As I Saw It

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AS I SAW IT

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FOREWORD BY

MAJOR M. C. MIGEL

J955
American Foundation for the Blind

NEW YORK

COPYRIGHT 1955

AMERICAN FOUNDATION FOR THE BLIND, INC.

15 WEST I 6th STREET

NEW YORK I I, N. Y.

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PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
THE WILLIAM BYRD PRESS, INC.

CONTENTS

FOREWORD, BY MAJOR M. C. MIGEL vii

the war of the dots i

progress in braille embossing

since 1900 57

libraries for the blind 6j

the talking book 83

periodicals for the blind 109

education of the blind 125

earning a living without benefit of

SIGHT 145

THE IMPORTANCE OF POWER TO MOVE ABOUT

AT WILL 167

THE FIGHT FOR SOCIAL SECURITY 177

THE AMERICAN FOUNDATION FOR THE BLIND 187

FOREWORD

This small volume has been published by the American
Foundation for the Blind with a dual purpose — to honor
the memory of Dr. Robert B. Irwin and the splendid
work which he accomplished — and to present a picture
of some phases of work for the blind and of the activities
of the American Foundation for the Blind.

I have been requested to write a Foreword in view of
my very close association and collaboration with Dr.
Irwin, a remarkably fine, outstandingly able man, and an
unusual character.

It happens that for twenty-three years I was President
of the American Foundation for the Blind, of which Dr.
Irwin was Director of Research and Education from
1923 to 1929 and Executive Director from the year 1929
to his retirement.

I distinctly remember a meeting in 1923 in Overbrook,
Pennsylvania when the engagement of Dr. Irwin was
under consideration at a board meeting. One of the
trustees of the American Foundation for the Blind at
that time, charming Miss Prudence Sherwin of Cleve-
land, who was acquainted with Dr. Irwin and his fine
work in Cleveland, informed us that if we engaged him,
he would have to have at least two secretaries to keep up
with his labors. I remember remarking that we were not
in position then to grant him this, whereupon Miss Sher-
win said, "Don't worry, he will secure what he thinks
he should have."

FOREWORD

Miss Sherwin then told us that when Dr. Irwin came
to Cleveland some years previously, he fell in love with
a beautiful sighted girl, who had many admirers and
everyone discouraged him from pressing his suit, feeling
that she would not accept. "However," continued Miss
Sherwin, "he would not be dissuaded, and they have
been married for some time now."

As to secretaries, he certainly required and had two
or three assistants long before the time he retired.

In the fifty years or more of my experience in work
for the blind, and throughout my close contact with
workers in the field, including many blind people, I
would say that Dr. Irwin and his achievements were
outstanding and will occupy a tremendously important
niche in the history of work for the blind.

He was a persevering and indefatigable worker, and
when he once decided on a certain procedure, he never
swerved from his course until he had arrived at a suc-
cessful issue.

Dr. Irwin spent himself in planning and furthering one
idea after another for the benefit of his fellow blind —
conservation of sight, education, gainful employment,
financial assistance, legislation, etc. He exhausted his
abundant energies in ceaseless and untiring labors for the
blind.

Some of his contemplated projects at first seemed
fantastic dreams, but diligently pursued by Dr. Irwin
and brought to fruition, they ultimately proved of inesti-
mable value. Such a project was the Talking Book,
which proved to be one of the greatest blessings bestowed
upon the blind in the last century, and as important in
their lives as the system originated by Louis Braille. This
is especially so as in recent years blindness has been

FOREWORD

most prevalent among the aged, who have lost finger-
sensitivity and find it difficult and often impossible to
learn to read braille.

The Talking Book is only one of the many projects
which Dr. Irwin envisioned and in the development of
which he was of tremendous assistance.

It was Dr. Irwin's idea that a blind person and guide
should be enabled to travel for one single fare on rail-
roads and buses. To bring this about involved a great
deal of labor, negotiations with the Interstate Commerce
Commission, the federal authorities in Washington, and
with the various transportation lines, many of them with
regional centers scattered throughout the country. But
after years of unremitting effort on the part of Dr. Irwin,
an arrangement was finally effectuated and has been in
operation for many years, enabling thousands of blind
persons and their guides to travel for a single fare.

Dr. Irwin conceived the idea of suggesting to Con-
gress that all the federal departments purchase from
workshops for the blind such of their supplies as are made
by the blind, at a fair market price. He appeared at many
hearings in Washington, and finally, to consummate this
plan, Congress passed the Wagner-O'Day Act, thus
creating a tremendous amount of gainful employment
for the blind. Blind-made products of the value of some
millions of dollars have been sold to the government in
several years.

Dr. Irwin planned and directed the World Conference
on Work for the Blind, which was held in New York
City in 193 1, and attended by delegates from forty-six
countries throughout the world. He was also Chairman
of the Organizing Committee for the International Con-

FOREWORD

ference of Workers for the Blind in Oxford, England
in 1949.

Although totally blind, Dr. Irwin traveled alone ex-
tensively, by air and by rail, and he seemed physically
inexhaustible. He had a keen sense of humor, which
helped him and us through occasional difficult and trou-
bled waters.

He had set his heart on writing, after his retirement,
a history of work for the blind, which he planned to call
Fifty Years of Progress, in which he had, indeed, played
a tremendously important part. Unfortunately, after
writing the ten chapters contained in this brief volume,
he was suddenly stricken and called to the Great Be-
yond, so that the book which he contemplated was not
completed.

These chapters are published in his memory and as a
slight tribute to the magnificent projects which he en-
visioned and brought to fruition for the benefit of his
fellow-blind. In view of the fact that the book was not
finished, it seemed fitting to change the title, which Dr.
Irwin had chosen, to As I Saw It.

M. C. Migel, Chairman of the Board

AMERICAN FOUNDATION FOR THE BLIND

THE WAR
OF THE DOTS

The long struggle to achieve a uniform type for the blind
will be remembered by anyone who was active in work for
the blind in the final years of the nineteenth century and
the first three decades of the twentieth. At the height of
the struggle, one outstanding educator of the blind, Dr. Olin
H. Burritt, said of the situation, "The conflict was acrimoni-
ous in the extreme. The bitterness can hardly be imagined^

Dr. Irwin, although too young to be involved in the first
violent battles, was a spectator watching and waiting for
his turn. He soon became an active participant in the delib-
erations, and finally, he was in the forefront among the
American delegation that successfully brought about the
establishment of Standard English braille for all English-
speaking countries in London in 1932.

These developments made Dr. Irwin feel that his history
of work for the blind must begin with the story of the de-
velopment of a uniform type for the blind, even though
his plans for the book had certain limitations as to the period
of time to be covered.

ocial workers often complain that blind
people are a difficult lot to deal with. When
one considers how cheerfully most of them
have adjusted themselves within the span
of a single lifetime to such changes in their
reading codes as from Boston linetype to
New York Point, New York Point to American braille,
American braille to Revised braille grade 1 1/2 , and finally
from grade 1 1/2 to grade 2, it must be admitted that sweet
reasonableness must characterize a large percentage of
finger readers. What an outcry would be heard in this
country if the seeing public had been forced to make a
similar series of accommodations!

While it is not the purpose of this book to go into
history of work for the blind much before 1900, some
account of the origin of types for the blind in the United
States will not be out of place.

The founders of schools for the blind in this country
turned to Europe for special appliances and special meth-
ods. In the early i830,s when the three mother schools
for the blind were founded in Boston, New York and
Philadelphia, the common type in official use on the other
side of the Atlantic was embossed Roman letters more
or less simplified to make them more tangible. Their vir-
tue as compared with arbitrary codes seemed to be that
they could be read by sight by the seeing teachers with
no special instruction. Furthermore, it was contended
that the blind people, by using a type similar to that of

3

AS I SAW IT

their seeing associates, were set less apart from the rest
of the world.

While Louis Braille had already published an exposi-
tion of his dot system in 1829, it had no official standing
anywhere and it is not clear that our earliest American
pioneers knew anything about this code. However, in
i860, Dr. Simon Pollak, a member of the Board of the
Missouri School for the Blind, who had observed the sys-
tem in use in Europe, brought it back to America with
him and caused it to be officially adopted by this school.

In the early 1860's William Bell Wait, then a teacher
and superintendent of the New York Institution for the
Blind, as it was then called, realized that a considerable
portion of blind children had great difficulty in learning
to read embossed Roman letters and a still higher per-
centage of those blinded in adult life could not learn to
read it at all. Accordingly, he turned his attention to the
promotion of some dot code that would be more tangible.
In Philadelphia, Roman letters printed with dotted lines
were being used to some extent, but it was not practical
for blind people to write embossed Roman letters whether
smooth or dotted.

Mr. Wait writes that he first asked the heads of schools
for the blind in Boston and Philadelphia to join him in
supplanting the Roman letters with Braille's code which
was in use at the Missouri School for the Blind in St.
Louis. As he received no encouragement from his col-
leagues he turned his attention to the perfecting of a dot
code which he felt would be even superior to braille and
published it in 1868.

This system, New York Point, was endorsed and rec-
ommended for use in the schools for the blind in the

THE WAR OF THE DOTS

United States at the meeting of the American Associa-
tion of Instructors of the Blind in 1 87 1 .

The braille system consists of arbitrary characters
standing for the letters of the alphabet, numerals, punc-
tuation, etc. All of these characters can be made with one
or more dots punched in what is known as a braille cell,
two dots in width and three dots in height. As on the
typewriter, each letter takes the same amount of space.

Mr. Wait, on the other hand, felt that braille was
wasteful of space and so he developed a system of arbi-
trary characters occupying a space two dots high and
extending horizontally to one, two, three or four dots in
width. This type had what is known as a variable base,
that is, a letter one dot wide used only one dot in width;
a letter two dots wide used only two dots in width; and
a letter three dots wide used three dots in width, etc. This
resulted in a definite saving of space. However, lower
case letters in New York Point were converted into capi-
tals by a complicated system of adding dots under certain
conditions, to make the letter four dots wide. This was
so cumbersome that publishers almost never used capitals
in their books.

When Louis Braille assigned a significance to a braille
character he did not take into account the relative fre-
quency of recurrence of that letter. For instance the
character for "t" contains four dots and the character
for "a" contains but one dot in spite of the fact that the
letter "t" occurs in most languages more frequently than
the letter "a."

This deficiency encouraged still another American to
work on a dot system that would be superior to Braille's
original code. Joel W. Smith, a blind piano tuning teacher
at Perkins Institution for the Blind in Boston, felt that

5

AS I SAW IT

letters made in a cell three dots high and two dots wide
could be read more easily and written more rapidly than
Mr. Wait's New York Point system. In order to gain for
a system written in the braille cell some of the advantages
claimed for New York Point he worked out a rearrange-
ment of Louis Braille's characters. To save effort in writ-
ing he assigned the characters having the fewest dots to
the letters recurring with the highest frequency in the
English language. To keep down the bulkiness of em-
bossed books he evolved a set of word contractions, as-
signing characters to them on the same frequency of
recurrence principle. This new type he called Modified
braille. Smith expounded his system before the American
Association of Instructors of the Blind in 1878. How-
ever, New York Point was already the officially adopted
type of the association. Mr. Wait and his friends gave
the young mild-mannered Smith pretty harsh treatment
at this meeting.

Modified braille was used more or less by the pupils of
Perkins Institution but little more was heard of it outside
of Boston for another decade. The official type at Perkins
remained the simplified Roman alphabet, commonly
called Boston linetype, in spite of the fact that it was
difficult to feel and impracticable for the blind to write.

Louis Braille's system made little more progress out-
side of Missouri than did Modified braille. Blind pupils
in some of the schools, notably in Illinois, used it for
personal purposes but officially it was frowned upon as
being an heretical competitor of the orthodox New York
Point and the appliances for writing it were confiscated
by the school authorities.

In 1 890 there came onto the type scene as superintend-
ent of the Pennsylvania Institution for the Instruction of

THE WAR OF THE DOTS

the Blind in Philadelphia, a young man who was destined
to play a stellar role in the whole type controversy. He
was Edward E. Allen who had formerly taught in the
Royal Normal College for the Blind in London where an
English adaptation of Louis Braille's system was in use.
From London he had gone to Boston as a teacher in Per-
kins Institution. There he became familiar with Smith's
Modified braille which was in use for manuscript pur-
poses. He liked the scientific basis on which ordinary
lower case letters could be converted into capitals by pre-
fixing two dots in the bottom of the preceding cell.

Mr. Allen found New York Point in official use at
Philadelphia when he arrived there. Though, as he said,
the teachers did not like the system, he retained it for two
years because it was the only dot type in which books
could be obtained from the government-supported
American Printing House for the Blind.

In 1892 a group of seven or more superintendents of
schools for the blind met at the time of the Brantford,
Ontario, convention of the American Association of In-
structors of the Blind under the chairmanship of Michael
Anagnos, Director of Perkins Institution. This group was
dissatisfied with New York Point and decided to adopt
some form of braille. They appointed a subcommittee
consisting of Dr. John T. Sibley of the Missouri School
for the Blind, Joel W. Smith and Edward E. Allen, to de-
cide which braille alphabet to adopt in America. After
some discussion, all but one, Dr. Sibley, decided to use
Modified braille in spite of the fact that no books in this
type were available. In 1900 this type was renamed
American braille on the suggestion of Dr. Sibley.

At this time considerations regarding the mechanics of
printing for the blind were interjected into the type ques-

AS I SAW IT

tion. So far, embossed Roman letters known as linetype,
and New York Point had been printed with movable type
from which stereotype plates were sometimes cast. In
England braille books had been printed from metal sheets
punched out on a rugged braille writing frame with a
heavy stylus and mallet. The author at one time had
the privilege of shaking hands with Mr. John Ford who
had, over a period of thirteen years, punched out the en-
tire Bible by this method.

Modern printing for the blind may be said to have be-
gun in 1892 when Frank H. Hall, superintendent of the
Illinois School for the Blind, demonstrated his recently
developed braille typewriter before the American Asso-
ciation of Instructors of the Blind at Brantford. This de-
vice tremendously speeded up the writing of braille. A
good writer with a slate and stylus can seldom write more
than from ten to twenty words a minute, whereas a pro-
ficient braille typewriter operator may, with a reasonable
amount of practice, write two or three scores of words
per minute.

From the development of a braille typewriter for writ-
ing on paper it was only a step to the development of a
more powerful machine for embossing on sheets of brass,
zinc or iron. This machine was called the braille stereo-
typemaker and was exhibited at the Columbian Exposi-
tion in Chicago in 1893. The printing process was simple.
The embossed metal sheets were covered with tough,
heavy paper about twice the thickness of ordinary book
paper, and upon this was laid a rubber blanket. The whole
combination was then inserted in a press, and pressure ap-
plied. When the paper was removed, it was covered en-
tirely with braille printing.

With the advent of Hall's stereotypemaker Mr. Allen

8

THE WAR OF THE DOTS

set up a braille printing shop in his school in Philadelphia
and several other schools followed, notably the Illinois
School for the Blind. Embossed braille plates from these
schools were sometimes deposited with the American
Printing House for the Blind so that books could be made
from them and sold to the various schools who wished to
purchase them.

For many years a feud had raged between the spon-
sors of American braille and of New York Point. This
feud, which was of such vital importance to the blind
readers, became the basis of a bitter, personal controversy
between seeing leaders on either side. One who had not
witnessed the heat which was engendered by the debates
on the so-called type question cannot realize how bitter
these discussions could become. A superintendent of a
school for the blind, who had originally favored the use
of New York Point in his school, after considerable study
switched over to the use of braille. When he came to the
national convention of instructors the following year he
found that some of his old New York Point associates
refused to sit next to him at the luncheon table. In the
light of this feeling on the subject, one can easily imagine
the exultation among the braillists at the appearance of
Frank HalPs braillewriter since it was impracticable to
write New York Point on this machine.

Years later Mr. Wait, in telling the author about the
Brantf ord convention, said that after examining the braille-
writer he realized that New York Point was doomed un-
less an equivalent machine for writing his type could be
perfected. He therefore went to work on this problem,
and within a few months produced a typewriter for writ-
ing New York Point, which was christened the Kleido-
graph,

AS I SAW IT

Mr. Wait further said that he had no sooner announced
this machine than he had another surprise awaiting him,
the braille stereotypemaker. Anyone who has had the ex-
perience of developing rather complicated mechanical ap-
pliances is amazed at the shortness of time that was re-
quired for adapting the Kleidograph to embossing on
metal sheets. This extended the life of New York Point
for another generation. We sometimes mourn the waste
of time and money in this prolonged type dispute. How-
ever, it was not without its blessing. The competition
between the backers of the two systems stimulated the de-
velopment of improved appliances which might other-
wise have been long delayed.

The advocates of the two rival systems worked hard
at raising money from private as well as public sources
to build up libraries in their favorite types. To Mr. Wait,
who had labored for more than thirty years to perfect
New York Point and who at one time had seen nearly
every school for the blind in the United States using it as
its official code, the controversy became very personal.
Had New York Point survived, his name would have
gone down in history alongside that of Louis Braille. As
it turned out, he is today remembered as a very able and
relentless leader among educators of the blind who died a
disappointed, embittered old man. One of his greatest
disappointments was the adoption of braille as the official
system to be taught in the New York Public Schools.

In 1909 when plans were being made for the new day
school classes for the blind in the New York Public
Schools the thorny question of what tactile type to use in
these classes came up for decision. There was so much
feeling on the subject, especially in the city of New York
where New York Point had its birth, that the Board of

IO

THE WAR OF THE DOTS

Education wisely decided to hold a public hearing and let
the advocates of the two systems present their cases before
a committee of the Board.

There were two hearings held, the first on March 24,
the second on May 18th. The time allotted to the first
hearing was two and a half hours and was equally divided
between the factions, New York Pointists having the
first half. This gave the Point people no time for rebuttal
and the protests were so violent that a second hearing was
held.

William Bell Wait marshalled his witnesses in behalf
of New York Point while Miss Winifred Holt, founder
of the New York Association for the Blind, rallied the
American braille forces. Behind this hearing, as the initi-
ated realized, was a background of a long-standing feud
between Miss Holt and Mr. Wait which had little or
nothing to do with blind people's reading. Mr. Wait ob-
jected to Miss Holt's publicity methods, and Miss Holt
was very critical of Mr. Wait's school for not taking more
interest in the vocational prospects of its pupils.

Such authorities as Mr. Wait himself, Mr. John F.
Bledsoe, Superintendent of the Maryland School for the
Blind, Benjamin Berinstein who was then a young blind
college student, and other New York Point stalwarts
testified passionately in favor of New York Point.

Miss Holt persuaded such braillists as Frank H. Hall,
inventor of the braillewriter, who long since had left
work for the blind, to come to New York to testify.
With him were such well-known personalities as George
W. Jones, then superintendent of the Illinois School
braille printing department and braille member of the
Uniform Type Committee of the American Association
of Workers for the Blind; Olin H. Burritt, then super-

1 1

AS I SAW IT

intendent of the Pennsylvania Institution for the Instruc-
tion of the Blind; John B. Curtis, sightless supervisor of
classes for the blind in the Chicago Public Schools, and
others. Edward E. Allen, then director of Perkins Insti-
tution, was absent in Europe or he would doubtless have
been one of the star witnesses.

Helen Keller, who has always avoided needlessly in-
volving herself in controversies which might prove acri-
monious, was not present, but she did write a letter to A.
Emerson Palmer, Secretary of the New York Board of
Education, which was read at the hearing.

The hall in which the hearing was held was packed to
overflowing with backers of the two systems. Charles F.
F. Campbell, son of the famous Sir Francis Campbell of
the Royal Normal College for the Blind in London, Eng-
land, and editor of the Outlook for the Blind, came down
from Massachusetts with several others to witness the
spectacle. A whole delegation came from Philadelphia,
another from Baltimore, and local braille and New York
Point fans listened eagerly. The author well remembers
the breathless silence with which the audience hung on
the words of the witnesses.

Backers of the respective systems burst into applause as
telling points were made for their favorite type. The
committee on types of the Board of Education must have
been puzzled over the manifest public interest in this
highly technical subject.

Both sides stressed for the most part the economy and
flexibility of their systems. In New York Point a given
number of words occupies substantially less space than in
American braille. Mr. Wait made the most of the space-
saving qualities of this type even to the point of exaggera-
tion. He also directed attention to the fact that the avail-

12

THE WAR OF THE DOTS

able library of New York Point books was much larger
than that in braille.

The advocates of American braille made a rather im-
pressive showing by recounting the schools for the blind
which had abandoned use of New York Point in favor
of American braille indicating a strong trend toward the
newer system. One of their strongest arguments was that,
as New York Point publishers made little or no use of
their cumbersome capitals or their four-dot long hyphens
and apostrophes, most books were published without us-
ing any of these signs.

Studies based on tests made with a very few subjects
claimed evidence in favor of braille, which was used ef-
fectively at the second hearing. However, the most tell-
ing blow that was given New York Point occurred at the
first hearing. It was an exhibit offered by Frank Hall
which showed two copies of a title page of a book in ink
type, one entirely without caps as it would appear in
New York Point and one correctly capitalized as it would
appear in American braille.

Mr. Hall also showed an exhibit in ink type with apos-
trophes and hyphens omitted. Much was heard in those
days of what was termed the "illiteracy" of New York
Point which, when translated into ink type, made New
York Point books look like very poor models of English
to place in the hands of blind children.

Helen Keller's letter to Mr. Palmer summed up much
of the argument in behalf of American braille. It reads as
follows:

"My Dear Sir:

I regret that I cannot appear at the hearing before the
Board of Education of New York City on March the

13

AS I SAW IT

24th. I have been deeply interested these many years in
the question of raised types, not so much for my own
advantage (I read all the systems) as for that of the large
number of blind persons who may not share my good
fortune. I understand that you are to consider the rela-
tive merits of American braille and New York Point.
Between these two systems, it seems to me, there can be
no question when the facts are all properly presented to
you.

"I have always found New York Point a difficult, un-
satisfactory system. I object to it as it appears in most
books which I have seen because it does not use capitals,
apostrophes and hyphens. This sometimes spoils the sense
for the reader. But it has a worse effect upon the young
pupil. He is liable to get an imperfect idea of capitaliza-
tion and punctuation. I have received letters written on
the ordinary ink typewriter from blind persons which
contained errors significantly like the defects of New
York Point, and I cannot but believe that this illiteracy is
traceable to their habitual use of a defective mode of
punctographic writing during school years.

"It is true, the makers of New York Point have devised
capitals; but it is noteworthy that this very winter the
State Library at Albany was trying to decide upon a
suitable capital sign. Forty years after this system was
supposed to be 'perfected,' it is still in an undecided state!
The capitals, when they are used, are not always unequiv-
ocal. I have often mistaken D for j, I for b and Y for
double o in signatures, and I waste time looking at ini-
tial letters over and over again. I am not satisfied with
the signs for hyphen and aspostrophe that I have found
because they are cumbersome. It is possible to mistake
the apostrophe for ou, especially in proper names.

THE WAR OF THE DOTS

"New York Point is much harder for me to read than
American braille. It wears my reading finger more to
travel over letters three dots wide and two high as they
are in New York Point than over letters two dots wide
and three high as they are in American braille. Also, it
is a most trying task to decipher many letters which I
get in New York Point. The writers evidently have trou-
ble either with the system or the machine. Of the letters
I receive in the two systems, a far larger proportion are
well written in American braille.

"I note, too, that in the great world of the blind New
York Point is a provincialism. The machines for it are
made only in New York, and write only New York
Point. On the other hand, machines for braille are made
in Germany, France, England and America. I have owned
American and German braillewriters which place me in
communication with people all over the world.

"I am sure that in all important respects American
braille is superior to New York Point because it meets
completely the needs of capitalization, punctuation, legi-
bility and physical ease of reading.

"With high regards, I am

Respectfully yours,

(signed) Helen Keller"

One of the high points of the evening for the writer
was the effect the hearing had on his companion Charles
F. F. Campbell. While Charlie was more in sympathy
with English braille than with either of the American
systems, he dearly loved a good fight. He had suggested
to the writer that they find a secluded corner where they
could listen unobserved. Being the editor of the Outlook
for the Blind he felt he should hold a neutral position. Ex-

15

AS I SAW IT

cept when presenting a matter in written form where
words could be carefully weighed, a neutral role was a
very difficult one for him to play as he was always en-
thusiastic about anything in which he believed.

When the exhibit of the two title pages was placed on
the blackboard and the stunning effect of its appearance on
the seeing members of the audience was evident, Charlie
threw his arms around the author and added to the ap-
plause a burst of laughter which might have been termed
a whoop! Charles had hoped his presence in the room
would not be noticed but this now became a vain wish as
every worker for the blind knew his expressive laugh.
Friends and enemies alike (and he had both of a plenty)
exclaimed in an audible whisper, "Charlie Campbell is
here!" This is mentioned because it was so characteristic
of this exuberant man who had such a profound influence
on work for the blind during the first two decades of the
century.

After mature deliberation the committee of the New
York Board of Education finally handed down its de-
cision in favor of American braille.

Most of the money for educational books for the blind
comes from the United States Government. The federal
appropriation for school books is made to the American
Printing House for the Blind of Louisville, Kentucky.
This institution, which is today the largest embossing
plant for the blind in the world, is governed by a board
of trustees on which the superintendent of every publicly-
supported school for the blind in the United States is ex
officio a member. In addition there are seven lay board
members residing in Kentucky. From these lay members
the president is invariably selected, and they constitute

16

THE WAR OF THE DOTS

the executive committee which handles the day-to-day
business of the institution.

As long as most of the superintendent board members
were advocates of New York Point, they had been
able to prevent any of the federal money being used for
publishing in braille. This forced the schools using braille
to rely upon private philanthropy, or upon state appro-
priations for their books.

In 19 1 o, however, it was evident that the forces of
New York Point and the braille advocates on the board
were nearly equal in number. This resulted in what at
the time looked like a smart maneuver on the part of
New York Pointers to preserve the New York Point
monopoly on government funds.

It had been customary, since 1880, for the American
Printing House for the Blind to hold a meeting of its
board of trustees at the same place and time as the bien-
nial convention of the American Association of Instruc-
tors of the Blind. This saved the superintendents attend-
ing the conventions the expense of going to Louisville to
attend the annual meeting of the Printing House those
years. In 19 10 nineteen of the superintendents of schools
using braille petitioned Colonel Andrew Cowan, President
of the American Printing House for the Blind, to hold its
usual board meeting that year at Little Rock, Arkansas,
immediately following the convention of the American
Association of Instructors of the Blind. Shortly before
Mr. Benjamin B. Huntoon, Superintendent and Secre-
tary of the American Printing House, sent out a letter
announcing that it had been found to be illegal for the
American Printing House as a Kentucky corporation to
hold its board meetings outside of the state. To the
braillists this seemed to be a sharp move. Several of the

17

AS I SAW IT

superintendents lived on the Pacific Coast, and meeting
the cost of going to Louisville from Little Rock would be
a hardship for them.

When the superintendents gathered for the convention
that year, emotions were running high. Since 1902 it had
not been customary at these conventions to hold any
public discussions on the type question. Experience had
shown that the acrimony engendered made calm delibera-
tion on educational problems well-nigh impossible. How-
ever, it was decided to disregard the old custom and bring
into an open meeting the whole question of braille versus
New York Point, as well as the sudden discovery of the
illegality of American Printing House board meetings be-
ing held outside the state of Kentucky. The braillists had
long looked forward to the time when they would have
a majority on the board. They then could demand and
would be able to force the allotment of a certain propor-
tion of the federal appropriation for the embossing of
braille books. Now it looked as if this opportunity might
be snatched from them, for the year at least, through what
seemed to many of them like a trick.

Those who attended the 1910 meeting will never for-
get the debate which was held in that hot, humid room
in Little Rock that afternoon, late in June. Feeling ran so
high that it was hard to find a member of the association
whom they all could trust to preside. However, they
finally selected a rugged old Hoosier, George Wilson,
Superintendent of the Indiana School for the Blind, who
had the reputation of rock-bound integrity. He professed
to be entirely openminded on the subject of braille and
New York Point. After careful study he had chosen for
his school the braille system of music notation, while
New York Point had been selected for literary purposes.

18

THE WAR OF THE DOTS

It was not an easy task to preside over this assembly.
On one hand there was a group fearing that their favorite
New York Point type was about to go down to defeat at
the hands of an ill-advised group of newcomer braillists,
and, on the other hand, a group of braillists who saw
themselves about to be swindled by a technicality out of
an opportunity to have government money made avail-
able for books in their type.

As the gentlemen assembled one could feel the ten-
sion in the air. It was decided that no questions would be
barred at this meeting and that no punches would be
pulled. Mr. Huntoon, who had exploded the legal bomb-
shell, became both the target of criticism and the de-
fender of the American Printing House for the Blind.

Everybody wanted the floor, so it was ruled by the
chair that no one could speak more than once, until every-
body else had had a chance. In fairness to the Printing
House, it was also ruled that its superintendent might an-
swer questions regardless of the number of times he had
had the floor previously. Mr. Huntoon was, at that time, a
zealous, elderly man who believed earnestly in New York
Point. He was one of probably not more than ten per
cent of the group who could personally read either sys-
tem. As the author looks back on that meeting he re-
members the eagerness of Mr. Huntoon to bring out cer-
tain points. Since he could not personally raise these
points, except in answers to questions, he would appeal
to the chair in his high-pitched voice to have someone
ask him "the following question." Finally, Mr. Huntoon
objected to one of the questions which seemed to reflect
unfairly upon him and his institution. He said that he
would not "waste his breath on a jackass like the ques-
tioner." The chairman ordered him to withdraw that re-

19

AS I SAW IT

mark or he would suspend the discussion immediately.
After a tense minute or more, Mr. Huntoon rose slowly
to his feet and said, "Having delivered myself of the
epithet, I now gladly withdraw it." This broke the ten-
sion and the meeting burst into prolonged laughter which
seemed to give everyone as much relief as Mr. Huntoon's
epithet had afforded him.

As a result of the discussion the braillists all determined
that they would attend the Louisville board meeting the
following day even if they had to ride home on brake
beams. A special sleeping car was reserved for them and
the annual meeting at Louisville had a record attendance
that year.

Regular business of the Louisville meeting was disposed
of with the customary dullness that characterizes most an-
nual board meetings. Finally, under new business, the mo-
tion for which everyone was waiting breathlessly was
made, taking the form of a proposal that forty per cent
of the government appropriation be expended on the
publication of American braille books. The vote was a
tie. This left it up to the chairman of the meeting, Colonel
Andrew Cowan, a local businessman of very high repute,
to cast the deciding vote. Mr. Huntoon implored him in
a whisper to kill the motion. Colonel Cowan disappointed
his New York Point friends by stating that the motion
seemed like a reasonable request since forty per cent of
the pupils represented by the superintendents were in
schools which had officially adopted American braille.
He cast the deciding vote in favor of the resolution, and
one can easily imagine the chagrin of the New York
Point members. From that time on, forty per cent of the
federal appropriation went for American braille books

20

THE WAR OF THE DOTS

until Revised braille completely supplanted both of the
contending systems.

Meanwhile the blind people, who were the real suffer-
ers as a result of the controversy, had become heartily dis-
gusted with the fight going on between superintendents
of schools for the blind, few of whom could read either
system.

In 1 90 1 the American Blind People's Higher Educa-
tion and General Improvement Association at its Kansas
City convention passed a resolution which read as follows,
"That a committee be appointed to investigate the vari-
ous forms of tactile print, and to labor for the adoption
of some one universal system."

In 1902, pursuant to this resolution, the Tactile Print
Investigating Commission was created, consisting of four
members, and chaired by Ambrose M. Shotwell, a blind
man who was braille printer of the Michigan School for
the Blind and later braille printer and librarian of the
Michigan Employment Institution for the Blind in Sagi-
naw. A prominent member of the commission was John
B. Curtis, also sightless, who was supervisor of classes for
the blind in the Chicago Public Schools which operated
a small braille printing shop.

The Tactile Print Investigating Commission, handi-
capped by lack of any funds with which to work, con-
ducted a few tests to ascertain the relative legibility of
letters having a few dots as compared with letters having
many dots. It also made a few tests designed to determine
the relative legibility of words containing letters of one
and two dots in height and one and two dots in width.
The number of subjects tested were too few to more than
suggest conclusions which were later arrived at after test-
ing several hundred readers.

21

AS I SAW IT

Before the commission wound up its affairs it also en-
deavored unsuccessfully to get the British Braille Com-
mittee to cooperate with it. The principal achievement of
the commission was that of focusing the interest of a
larger number of thoughtful blind people upon the de-
sirability of the adoption of a uniform type based upon
scientifically demonstrated principles.

In 1905 the successor to the American Blind People's
Higher Education and General Improvement Associa-
tion, the American Association of Workers for the Blind,
at its convention in Saginaw, Michigan received a letter
from Charles W. Holmes, resident of Rock Island, Que-
bec, Canada, and President of the Alumni Association of
Perkins Institution for the Blind, which is quoted in part
because it expresses so well the feelings of thoughtful blind
people at that time.

"I desire to . . . present our views upon the great type
question, which seems just now to be one of the most im-
portant and prominent before the consideration of the
blind and their friends. The most lamentable fact in this
connection is that we have at present Rvq distinct codes
of embossed print, and virtually subdivisions of some of
them as well — since some books are printed with, and
some without contractions. In order to avail himself of
the full range of literature (which at best is woefully
limited) the blind reader must learn, and keep well up in,
all these codes. . . . How long would our seeing friends
stand for such a state of affairs in ink type? Imagine for
a moment the ridiculous situation that would arise, if the
daily papers published in Boston had an entirely different
system of characters from those used by New York pub-
lishers, and that a Philadelphia man could not read either
without special training, because his own city had adopted

22

THE WAR OF THE DOTS

a third, as unlike the others as the Chinese characters are
unlike the Roman. . . . What we need, and must have, and
will have if we but make up our minds to it, and stand by
each other, is an international, universal code of embossed
type for all English-speaking countries. . . . Will not this
association which is a mighty power in the affairs of the
blind in this country, put its shoulder to the wheel and
see to it that the word to quit is not given till the wheel
moves? . . .

"It would be very acceptable to the advocates of braille,
if that code could be taken as the basis of the universal
code. New York Point supporters would feel the same
satisfaction, if that system could be put to the front,
and so with each of the five, no doubt. But in such an un-
dertaking nothing can be accomplished unless all are will-
ing to make concessions, cheerfully, and if necessary stand
prepared to abandon their own individual choice, and
abide loyally by whatever may ultimately be agreed upon
by the majority. . . .

". . . At present there are a good many books printed
in more than one code, which is a needless waste of time
and expense but is necessary under present conditions in
order that the readers in different systems may have the
privilege of reading them. Stereotyping is playing an im-
portant part in our printing now and is one of the strong-
est arguments for a universal code. When once the plates
are stamped for a certain book, the additional expense of
striking off a few hundred more copies is, comparatively
speaking, very trifling. There already exists a most praise-
worthy system of exchange of books among our printing
houses and libraries. Let this continue and be extended

systematically on both sides of the water Think what

a great increase of literature there would be for the same

AS I SAW IT

total expense that is now laid out by the combined presses
of England and America, and every book available to
every reader, on both sides of the ocean.

"May I not urge upon you my friends, that you give
this matter your most serious consideration . . . till the
end is accomplished? We shall have opposition both from
the blind themselves and from some of those in authority
over them, no doubt; there will be more or less confusion
and perhaps inconvenience for a time to the readers, but
what great good was ever yet brought about . . . without
opposition and sacrifice? . . . The time is now ripe for
action; the English-speaking world, so far as the blind
are concerned, is aroused. They are feeling their way to-
ward a solution. If we let this opportunity pass, it may
be years before another occasion so favorable will pre-
sent itself. ..."

Mr. Holmes also wrote a similar letter to the Interna-
tional Conference on the Blind which was held in Edin-
burgh the same year, in the hope of interesting British
authorities in the subject.

The Tactile Print Investigating Commission was suc-
ceeded by the Uniform Type Committee of the Ameri-
can Association of Workers for the Blind which was set
up by the following resolution at the 1905 convention at
Saginaw, "That we favor the adoption of some one uni-
form type for use in schools and general reading, and
that a committee of five be appointed to communicate
with the British Braille Committee, and to continue the
work heretofore assigned to the Tactile Print Investigat-
ing Commission." This committee consisted of the follow-
ing, all of whom were blind: Charles W. Holmes, Elwyn
H. Fowler, John B. Curtis, Lee N. Muck, Ambrose M.
Shotwell. Two of the members were New York Point

24

THE WAR OF THE DOTS

advocates, two American braille advocates, and the fifth
soon became known to be partial to British braille.

The Uniform Type Committee began by stating that
linetype was passing from the stage as a competitor. It
recognized, however, that Moon type had a certain value
for use by blinded aged and hard-handed persons. In this
connection it was suggested that a dot system arranged in
a cell three dots high and three dots wide and roughly re-
sembling Roman letters might be superior in some respects
to Moon type as it would be less expensive to manufac-
ture by movable type, easier to learn, more tangible,
and capable of being written by hand. This suggestion,
however, never got beyond the academic discussion
stage.

The committee decided to concentrate its study on
the relative merits of the three point systems, American
braille, New York Point and British braille. The problem
was broken down into certain characteristic elements of
the systems which could be compared one with another.
It was hoped that the claims for the various systems were
susceptible of scientific testing. For example, New York
Point is a dot system in which no letter is more than
two dots vertically, while horizontally it might be one to
four dots. On the other hand, braille consists of one or
more dots arranged within the braille cell, three dots
vertically and two horizontally. Which is more legible?

Test sheets were prepared, each containing an equal
number of characters. On one sheet these characters were
one, two or three dots high; on the other sheet the same
number of characters were arranged one, two or three
dots in width. These characters were placed in lines as
they would appear in an embossed book and grouped in
from two to five characters such as might appear in

25

AS I SAW IT

words. Each character, of course, was the equivalent of
a braille or a New York Point letter.

In administering the test a blind subject was asked to
read the sheets and simply call out the number of dots
in the character under his finger so that it made no differ-
ence whether or not he knew the letter for which it stood.
A stop watch was held by an observer who followed on
another copy of the test and the subject was directed to
call the number of dots in these characters as rapidly as
he could recognize them. It was felt that if the sheets
having characters three dots wide (characteristic of New
York Point) could be read faster or with fewer errors
than the sheets with characters three dots high (charac-
teristic of braille), a superiority for New York Point
would be indicated, If, however, the characters three
dots high could be read more rapidly than those with the
horizontal arrangement of dots, a superiority for braille
would be suggested.

Several scores of persons were tested in this way, and
it was found that even in the areas where New York
Point was the prevailing system the sheets with characters
three dots high were read more rapidly.

Other tests were devised which, it was felt, would test
other characteristics of the systems. Unfortunately, as in
the case of the committee's predecessor, the members had
little opportunity to get together because of the lack of
working funds.

At the 1907 meeting of the American Association of
Workers for the Blind a report was made which was
inconclusive because data had been collected with so
few subjects that the findings might conceivably be re-
versed if a larger number of readers were to be tested.
The committee was continued. In 1909 the American

26

THE WAR OF THE DOTS

Association of Workers for the Blind met in Columbus,
Ohio. A report was submitted which, for the same rea-
son, was not convincing to persons having a predisposition
toward New York Point. It became known at this meeting
that the two New York Point advocates on the committee
had become so convinced of the superiority of braille
over their former favorite system that they now were ad-
vocates of braille, so that the committee then stood four
favoring American braille and one favoring British braille.
The New York Point advocates who attended the con-
vention were outraged at the betrayal of their favorite
type. Dignified superintendents took the platform and
denounced the committee, denounced its methods, de-
nounced its motives, and, had congressional investigations
then been the order of the day, they would probably
have demanded either a congressional investigation of
the subject or, at least, that a grand jury be called to
search out the culprits.

To calm the turbulent waters, and on the motion of
a braille advocate, it was voted that the number on the
committee be increased to ten by adding five who favored
New York Point. Among the newcomers were two
who for several years were destined to play a major
role in the settlement of the type question — H. Randolph
Latimer, sightless member of the faculty of the Mary-
land School for the Blind, and Miss L. Pearl Howard, a
young graduate of the Iowa State School for the Blind.
Mr. Latimer withdrew soon after election, but rejoined
the committee again in 191 1.

Something of the spirit of the committee may be
gathered from a recent interview between the writer
and Miss Howard, who said, "When offered the appoint-
ment on the committee I asked if I was expected to work

27

AS I SAW IT

for the general adoption of New York Point or for a
uniform type, whatever it might be. The reply was that
I should work for a uniform type regardless of any pre-
disposition I might have. This was all I wanted to know
and I accepted service under those condtions. This
decision may have cost me some of my Iowa friends
who were in favor of the New York Point."

Little money, however, was made available to the
committee, so that they had to depend for the most part
upon their own slender purses to meet the costs of any
investigations they might make. In the spring of 191 1
the committee felt that it must try out relative legibility
tests on more people. Accordingly, in spite of the com-
mittee's lack of funds, arrangements were made for Miss
Howard and Mr. Elwyn H. Fowler and his seeing wife,
Mary, to visit the New York State School for the Blind
at Batavia where New York Point was the official em-
bossed type. The purpose of this visit was quite as much
to test the validity of some new tests as to assemble con-
vincing data.

The next biennial convention of the American Asso-
ciation of Workers for the Blind was held in June 191 1
at Overbrook, Philadelphia in the assembly room of the
Pennsylvania Institution for the Instruction of the Blind.
The committee had little to report at that meeting be-
yond plans for more scientific study if at least $3000.00
could be made available. It offered to raise $1800.00 if
those at the convention would show their faith in the
committee by pledging $1200.00. The committee's re-
port consisted principally of an effort to impress upon
the lay public and upon the seeing superintendents of
schools for the blind the nature of the problem in hand,
the tragic confusion of the whole affair to the blind, and

28

THE WAR OF THE DOTS

the shamefulness of wasting money in the duplication
of books in the various systems.

The committee selected a seeing man, Charles F. F
Campbell, to expound the report of the committee to the
convention because he was known as one of the most
ardent advocates of just treatment of the blind who ever
lived. Charlie had a flair for presenting in a clear way
problems of concern to the blind. It is fortunate that he
was chosen for this task. He was more accustomed to
public speaking than any of the members of the com-
mittee. As a seeing man he could plead that the seeing
members of the association and the seeing public, to
whom the type question was largely an academic one,
give the committee of blind people funds with which to
work.

The committee reported that they must have money
enough to employ two agents, one blind and one seeing,
to travel about the United States from one typical com-
munity to another, explaining the methods and objec-
tives of the committee and, through tests, collect data
which would eventually enable any fair-minded person
approaching the subject dispassionately to decide upon
a satisfactory code of embossed type.

The convention consisted of men and women of
whom perhaps half were blind, and all of them were
deeply interested in problems of vital concern to the
sightless. Practically all of them were in very modest
circumstances — some were teachers, some were broom-
makers, some were home teachers, some were small busi-
nessmen, some were dependent upon small pensions of
one kind or another. However, this group represented
the rank and file of blind people as well as of workers
for the blind. Whatever decision they arrived at, while

29

AS I SAW IT

not binding upon anyone, would have a great moral in-
fluence on the thinking of those in control of agencies
for the blind.

It was to this group that Mr. Campbell pleaded for
funds to carry on the scientific study of a field in which
thousands of dollars were wasted every year through
duplication. Everybody agreed that duplication was
wrong, but no one had enough data on which to base
an argument for any one type which would be convinc-
ing to those predisposed to another.

Mr. Campbell made an impassioned appeal to this
group for moral support, but, more importantly, for
financial support. No evangelist ever made a more heart-
felt plea. That little group of 330 men and women was
thoroughly aroused. Charles W. Holmes, Chairman of
the Uniform Type Committee, who then held a position
in work for the blind in Massachusetts, announced that
he would start the fund with f 100.00, one month's sal-
ary. Others followed with smaller amounts. One man,
who many present knew was living on a pension of
$150.00 a year, pledged $5.00. Finally the Director of
Perkins Institution for the Blind, an old advocate of
American braille who felt that so far as he was concerned
the question had been settled for twenty years, pledged
f 200.00 from the Howe Memorial Press, an organization
affiliated with Perkins Institution. No million dollar
pledge of a Rockefeller brought forth more enthusiastic
cheers. At the end of an hour it was announced that
$1500.00 had been pledged. The committee then felt
that with this show of confidence it could go forth and
raise, from the general public, the additional $1800.00 it
had pledged itself to collect. Before the next meeting a
total of $4,133.60 was raised. With the funds now in

30

THE WAR OF THE DOTS

sight the committee could proceed with some real re-
search.

Word of this meeting and its results spread over the
entire community of the blind of the United States. It
now looked as if the end of the type dispute was in sight.
How little most of them realized that it would be another
five years before anything even resembling uniformity
would be found in the United States and that more than
twenty-one years would elapse before they had a uni-
form type for the English-speaking world.

About this time Mr. M. C. Migel, a wealthy, retired
silk manufacturer in New York City, who had long been
interested in blind people, heard of the Uniform Type
Committee's work. For twelve years he had given one
evening a week to reading to blind men and women
residents of the Society for the Relief of the Destitute
Blind in New York City. He became very fond of many
of the people who attended his reading circle, and one
time brought back from England a braille book for one
of the girls in the institution. Much to his amazement he
found that she could not read it, not because she was
illiterate, but because the book was in British braille and
she was a reader of New York Point.

When he heard of the Uniform Type Committee and
its efforts to bring some solution to the problem, he
stopped in the reading room for the blind at the Library
of Congress and asked Mrs. Gertrude T. Rider, the
librarian in charge, if she thought money contributed to
the Uniform Type Committee would bear fruit. A few
days later Miss L. Pearl Howard and Mrs. Elwyn H.
Fowler, representatives of the Uniform Type Committee,
visited the library. While she felt that she could not
expose Mr. Migel to a direct appeal from the committee,

31

AS I SAW IT

Mrs. Rider promised these representatives that she would
suggest to Mr. Migel that he get in touch with them or
with the chairman of the committee. A little later Mr.
Migel called on Walter G. Holmes, managing editor of
the Matilda Ziegler Magazine for the Blind, and learned
that it was a source of great distress to him that he had to
issue the magazine in two editions, one for those who
read New York Point and one for those who read braille.
He begrudged the waste of precious money. However,
he had some doubts about the ultimate success of the
efforts of the Uniform Type Committee. He had seen
too much bitter controversy to allow himself to be-
lieve wholeheartedly that the committee could settle the
question.

Mr. Migel posed this query to Mr. Holmes; would it
be worthwhile for him to give a thousand dollars to the
committee? Mr. Holmes said it depended on how much
"one thousand dollars" meant to him, to which Mr. Migel
replied that really a thousand dollars did not mean too
much to him.

With the funds raised at Overbrook and with some
additional money which had come in from other sources,
the committee was able to employ Miss Howard and
Mrs. Fowler on very modest salaries. This pair of de-
voted representatives travelled about the country con-
ducting tests in thirty-six states. Everyone was eager to
know what these tests were showing. Was New York
Point showing up better than it had originally, or was
braille still in the ascendency?

After visiting a majority of the schools for the blind
in the United States where either New York Point or
American braille was in use, the committee felt that some
tests should be made in a school where the British version

32

THE WAR OF THE DOTS

of braille was in vogue. Practically the only school in
North America answering this description was the one
at Halifax, Nova Scotia. Accordingly, Halifax was visited
and several scores of pupils were tested. Immediately,
the agents were impressed by the facility with which
these pupils read, and to their consternation a study of
test sheets indicated a striking superiority of British
braille over either American braille or New York Point.

A hasty meeting of the committee was called in Boston
and the results to date reviewed. Twelve hundred Ameri-
can readers had been tested. They were about equally di-
vided between New York Point and American braille. In
most respects American braille had been demonstrated to
be superior to New York Point, though New York Point
had certain space-saving advantages resulting from its
variable base which made books in that system more
compact. Now they were confronted with results of tests
made of British braille which seemed to show that that
system was superior to either of the American systems.
However, it was judged both dangerous and unfair to
scrap the two American types on the showing made
with British braille by hardly a hundred readers.

The data collected, however, was so convincing that
when it was laid before the committee, it was apparent
to all that neither American braille nor New York Point
would survive. However, British braille had exhibited
certain weaknesses, and if the slate were clean and a new
system devised it seemed probable that a punctographic
code theoretically superior to any of the three could be
developed.

The committee feared that if British braille were
adopted with all of its faults, some future student of the
subject might again upset the whole world of the blind

33

AS I SAW IT

with a type controversy by promoting a scientifically
demonstrable superior code. Therefore, it was decided
to strike out boldly and work out an entirely new code
— a code that would utilize the British or French braille
alphabet and, for contraction purposes, utilize characters
which had been demonstrated to be the most legible to
represent groups of letters recurring with the greatest
frequency in the English language — a code which would
not only utilize a cell three dots high but would also
utilize the variable base which had given to New York
Point its space-saving and some other advantages.

Accordingly, on June 25, 191 3 the committee recom-
mended at the convention of the American Association
of Workers for the Blind held at Jacksonville, Illinois
that an entirely new stystem, to be known as Standard
Dot, be promulgated for use throughout the entire coun-
try, scrapping both New York Point and American
braille.

The recommendations of the committee were ap-
proved when put before the delegates to the convention
and the committee was directed to elaborate further
the proposed system. This outcome was not a victory
for any of the contending systems. The American braille
code was discarded but the three levels of dots upon
which it was based and the principle of frequency of
recurrence, fundamental parts of the system, were re-
tained. The New York Point code was also discarded
but the variable base as well as the principle of fre-
quency of recurrence was retained. The advocates of
both systems were crushed, and they were left to take
what comfort they could out of what remained, plus the
fact that their hated rival had fared no better.

What is this British braille system that had shown up

34

THE WAR OF THE DOTS

so well? What had been happening in England during
all this time? In 1876 through the influence of the British
and Foreign Blind Association, later the National Insti-
tute for the Blind, Louis Braille's French alphabet, with
upwards of two hundred contractions and abbreviations
adapted to the English language, won ascendancy over
all other competitors as the reading code for the blind
of Great Britain. Among its contractions were characters
standing for ing, ch, sh, action, ally; and such abbrevia-
tions as shd for should, bl for blind, rev for receive, dev
for deceive, etc. After several years' experience with the
new code considerable dissatisfaction with its set of con-
tractions had grown up throughout Great Britain. The
Hora Jucunda, a braille magazine published in Edin-
burgh, opened its columns to a discussion of the merits
and demerits of braille as early as 1893. Soon it began
agitating for the appointment of a representative com-
mittee to revise the system.

In 1902 the various interested groups got together on
a committee known as the British Braille Committee
sponsored jointly by the British and Foreign Blind As-
sociation and the Gardner's Trust for the Blind. This
committee, after some three years of work, agreed upon
a new set of rules and contractions. This system was to
be known as British Revised braille. The alphabet, nu-
merals, punctuation and a few other signs made up what
was called Revised braille grade 1. Revised braille grade
2 consisted of grade 1 plus some two hundred contrac-
tions and abbreviations. Revised braille grade 3 consisted
of grade 2 plus upwards of a thousand more contractions
and abbreviations. These contractions were selected
largely on the basis of personal observation as to their
usefulness and frequency of recurrence in English. Some-

35

AS I SAW IT

one said that these contractions were an aggregate of
individual preferences rather than a set of scientific sym-
bols, as no extended study had been made to demonstrate
their value.

However, this committee submitted its report to its
sponsoring organizations in 1905 shortly before the meet-
ing of the International Conference on the Blind in
Edinburgh. The Edinburgh convention approved the re-
port. This action, however, had no international signifi-
cance because only a few foreign visitors attended this
British meeting.

To revert to the American Uniform Type Committee
in 191 3 — a more detailed study of British braille seemed
called for. A careful study of the committee treasury
and of the cost of travel to Great Britain and other finan-
cial considerations indicated that by scrimping painfully
and omitting a printed report, and by travelling on the
steamship at the lowest possible rate, the representatives
of the committee could go to England and make a limited
number of tests.

On the day before leaving for England Chairman
Holmes received a letter from Mr. M. C. Migel in New
York expressing his interest in the work of the committee
and enclosing a check. No one unacquainted with the
zeal of the Uniform Type Committee members can
realize what this sudden discovery of such a financial spon-
sor meant to them. Now the representatives of the com-
mittee could travel in a dignified, comfortable way with
resources which would enable them to visit several large
centers of population in Great Britain where a sufficient
number of blind subjects could be found to give con-
clusive results.

The representatives of the committee were Messrs.

36

THE WAR OF THE DOTS

Fowler and Latimer, Miss Howard and Mrs. Fowler.
They sailed in the early summer of 19 14, and their stay
in England coincided with the International Conference
on the Blind in London.

Several other persons intimately familiar with the
work of the Uniform Type Committee were also in
attendance. The delegates were most cordially received
by workers for the blind in Great Britain, who gave full
support to the investigations carried on by the commit-
tee. Upon its return to America the work was begun on
the development of the proposed Standard Dot system.

In 19 1 5 the convention of the American Association
of Workers for the Blind was scheduled for Berkeley,
California, mainly to give its members an opportunity to
visit also the Panama Pacific Exposition held in San
Francisco, across the Bay. The sister association, the
American Association of Instructors of the Blind for the
same reason had postponed for one year its convention
originally scheduled for 19 14, and had decided to hold a
joint meeting with the American Association of Workers
for the Blind. Before the two associations the Uniform
Type Committee reported the completion of its work
on the development of the Standard Dot code and rec-
ommended its adoption for general use. The American
Association of Workers for the Blind accepted the report
and adopted the new system. The American Association
of Instructors of the Blind, composed mostly of seeing
executives, was a little more cautious. It voted to accept
the Standard Dot system only on condition that the
British type authorities would do likewise.

The report also recommended that the Uniform Type
Committee be forthwith discharged, as its work was
considered finished. This was done, and in its place the

37

AS I SAW IT

two associations created the Commission on Uniform
Type for the Blind to carry on the work.

Miss H. C. Russell was present at this meeting, repre-
senting the National Institute for the Blind in Great
Britain. She was not overly optimistic about the accept-
ance of the new code by her British countrymen.

As one looks back on it now, in the light of what has
happened since, it was naive of any of this group to
think that the practical, hard-headed British authorities
in control for the blind, who were perfectly satisfied
with the type they then had, would accept any such
proposal. As recently as 1905 the British had revised
their code and at great expense had scrapped their old
system of contractions upon the recommendation of a
committee that had given long study to the subject.
However, in a spirit of innocent optimism, Standard
Dot was seriously proposed as a worldwide type for the
English-speaking blind. The British studied the code and
while the official correspondence on the subject was
polite, they popularly dubbed it "Standard Rot" and
would have none of it.

Under the date of December 15, 191 5 Mr. W. M.
Stone, Headmaster of the Craigmillar School for the
Blind in Edinburgh, wrote an open letter to Mr. H. R.
Latimer, Secretary of the new American Commission on
Uniform Type for the Blind, which was obviously in-
tended largely for home consumption. This letter which
was published in the British periodical Teacher of the
Blind for January, 191 6, read in part as follows: "What
is it that you claim for Standard Dot? I know what you
will reply — uniformity, increase of accuracy, increase of
speed. Well, we want uniformity, we want it badly; but
we think there are other ways of reaching it. There

38

THE WAR OF THE DOTS

would be uniformity if you adopted British braille. There
are more readers of British than of any other system of
punctography. People frequently talk as if British braille
was the concern only of those living in the British Isles.
It is the system of the blind of Australia, New Zealand,
South Africa, Canada and India. It is as nearly identical
with the braille of European countries as differences of
language make possible, and it is actually read by great
numbers of every European country. Therefore, if uni-
formity is to be the great gain, it is only reasonable to
ask you to conform to our system. With regard to in-
crease of accuracy, I must candidly say I think that
accuracy after reaching a certain point is of little impor-
tance. I find that blind people, children or adults, read
quite as accurately as seeing people. And the gain you
show in accuracy is so very small, only two per cent. You
see I am accepting your figures, but it must be remem-
bered they are only theoretically obtained, no actual
tests between the two systems have been taken. There
remains speed, which is equivalent to fluency. I think
this is much more important than accuracy, for without
ease there is no pleasure and without pleasure there is
little real reading. Well, what is your claim for this point?
Only a gain of six per cent. It comes to this, then, so
far as I have been able to work it out, that the sacrifices
are what I have stated, and the gain is problematic in-
crease of speed. . . ."

The universality in the use of British braille implied
in Mr. Stone's letter was not as significant as it sounds.
There were probably less than five hundred braille read-
ers in all of India and the combined reading blind popu-
lations of New Zealand, Australia, South Africa and a
small section of Canada using British braille was prob-

39

AS I SAW IT

ably not greater than the reading blind population of
New York and Pennsylvania. Furthermore, about all
that was common in braille between Great Britain and
the European countries he refers to was the alphabet,
and Standard Dot utilized the British braille alphabet.

Two days later (December 17, 191 5) Mr. Stone
wrote a personal letter to Mr. Latimer which included
the following paragraph: "I am so sorry that Standard
Dot appears to us in this country impossible of accept-
ance. We don't doubt for a minute that it is a very good
system, but then so is British braille, and why should we
change to gain so little?"

In the United States, also, Standard Dot met with little
enthusiasm. It was clear within a few months that with-
out British participation the new code would never go
into practical use. It was evident to the most optimistic
of Standard Dot devotees that there was no hope of
arriving at a uniform code based on anything but British
Revised braille. Mr. Latimer, Secretary of the commis-
sion, wrote a letter dated January 8, 19 16 to Mr. Henry
Stainsby of Great Britain reporting on a recent meeting
of the Commission on Uniform Type. In this letter he
stated that it was the unanimous opinion of the commis-
sion that cooperation with Great Britain as to securing one
uniform type for the blind of the English-speaking world
was still the paramount aim of the commission. He also
stated that the commission would like to know, should
the Americans undertake the adoption of the British
braille system as the uniform type of the English-speak-
ing world, would the British official representatives be
willing to undertake the improvement of the British
braille system in so far as contractions, capitalizations,
etc., were concerned?

40

THE WAR OF THE DOTS

He reported that the commission had appointed a sub-
committee consisting of Messrs. Olin H. Burritt, M. C.
Migel and H. R. Latimer to take this matter up at once
with Great Britain and suggested that the British appoint
a similar committee that would be thoroughly representa-
tive and official.

The British took steps immediately to set up a cor-
responding committee. At the request of the British
committee the commission proposed certain changes in
the British braille system which in its opinion would not
cause too much confusion to those already using the
recently Revised British braille but which would make
it much more palatable to the American students of the
subject.

The American educators objected especially to certain
abbreviations and contractions, upon the theory that it
would make blind finger-readers poor spellers when they
came to writing on the typewriter. The Americans also
felt that the large number of contractions and abbrevia-
tions would be too difficult for many blind people to
master.

The American subcommittee suggested that the cus-
tomary rules for capitalization in inkprint be observed
instead of disregarding capitalization altogether, as was
the custom in British braille books. To Americans it
seemed probable that British publishers would not have
fallen into the practice of omitting capitalization entirely
if it had not been for the fact that the two-dot capital
sign in British braille was so obtrusive as radically to
alter the word form. The committee also recommended
that a few contractions having a very low frequency of
recurrence, and many which had been demonstrated by
the Uniform Type Committee's tests as having a low

41

AS I SAW IT

degree of legibility, be deleted from the Revised braille
code. Among the former were such characters as the
sign for "Christ," "Lord," "unto," etc., which were ob-
viously designed to take care of words recurring with
great frequency in religious literature; and among the
latter were such characters as those for "still," "child,"
"enough," etc. The committee further recommended
that fourteen others which effected a space saving of
less than two hundredths of one per cent be omitted
as imposing a burden on new learners out of proportion
to their space saving value, and that Roman numerals
be followed by a period instead of an apostrophe.

Receiving no immediate reply from the British com-
mittee the American Commission on Uniform Type
decided to cover itself by obtaining some additional au-
thority from the American Association of Instructors of
the Blind at its convention which met in Halifax in June,
191 6. The commission recommended that that association
adopt Revised Braille grades 1 and 2 as authorized in
Great Britain, provided however, that the duly authorized
English committee come to a full agreement with the
American Commission on Uniform Type for the Blind
concerning such modifications in Revised braille as had
been proposed by the American commission or as might
be proposed by either the American commission or the
English committee.

The commission further recommended that it be con-
tinued and that it be expanded to include representatives
of residential schools, public schools having classes for
the blind, home teachers, embossed printing presses and
libraries for the blind.

These recommendations were approved by the As-
sociation.

42

THE WAR OF THE DOTS

It should be borne in mind that in all this work the
British authorities in the world of the blind were handi-
capped by the disruption caused by the first world war
which during 191 6 and 19 17 was absorbing most of the
thought and energy of the British people. This accounts
in a large measure for the long delays which sometimes
occurred between the transmission of American pro-
posals and the British action on them. However, British
interest in the subject of uniformity was evinced in the
formation of the National Uniform Type Committee
on July 28, 19 1 6, with Sir Arthur Pearson, of St. Dun-
stan's fame, as chairman.

In March, 19 17 the Commission on Uniform Type
received a letter from Sir Arthur Pearson which reads
in part as follows: "... The suggested changes in braille
contained in your report of March, 19 16 have been
carefully considered ... by the National Uniform Type
Committee as a whole.

"It appears to us that many of the suggestions of your
committee have been made with a view to eliminating
certain difficulties which are assumed to exist, but our
experience of British braille leads us to believe that these
difficulties have assumed a rather exaggerated importance
in your consideration. . . .

"The National Uniform Type Committee is quite
cognisant of the fact that the present system of British
braille is capable of improvement but their experience
leads them to the belief that improvement does not lie
along the lines suggested in your report.

"We deeply regret that after long and most careful
consideration we have been forced to the conclusion that
the proposed changes would not be acceptable to users
of British braille, and would tend rather to weaken the

43

AS I SAW IT

system than to strengthen it. They seem to us indeed to
be, if we may say so, of a minor and somewhat vexatious
nature which, while of sufficient importance to derange
existing knowledge of braille, are not of real value in
securing its perfection. . . .

"We shall, of course, be most happy to consider any
further suggestions which due consideration may lead
you to offer, and we once more assure you of our earnest
desire to arrive at conclusions which will benefit the
English-speaking blind community in the manner which
we both desire."

The British committee did not vouchsafe for the con-
sideration of the American commission any changes in
the braille system which might be acceptable to them as
improvements.

Failing to obtain any concessions whatever from the
British braille authorities, the commission decided that
America should go it alone for the time being. Its recom-
mendations to the American Association of Workers for
the Blind at its 19 17 convention in Portland, Maine were
designed to bring about the adoption of a uniform type
for the United States which would be entirely legible to
British readers and at the same time leave the way open
for future negotiations to bring about the addition to the
American system of as much of the temporarily rejected
portion of Revised braille grade 2 as might later be agreed
upon. To this end the following recommendations were
made to and adopted by the American Association of
Workers for the Blind:

That the association, in adopting this report, expresses
its earnest desire to have the question of uniform type
settled without further delay.

44

THE WAR OF THE DOTS

That the commission be authorized to draw up, as soon
as possible, a form of "Revised Braille" based upon the
present grades i and 2 to be designated for the present
as grade il/2.

That the said grade 1 V2 shall consist of the alphabet,
punctuation marks, numerals, and all single-cell contrac-
tions of grade 2, except such few characters as for special
reasons it may seem wise to revise (such as the substitu-
tion of dot 6 for the present capital sign) with the under-
standing that no new contractions be introduced.

That the joint commission as now constituted shall be
a permanent board vested with final authority in matters
pertaining to uniform type; and that all printing houses
be urged to conform to its rulings in actual practice.

In 191 8 the American Association of Instructors of
the Blind also endorsed the work of the Commission on
Uniform Type, and thus the commission was set up as
a preliminary board vested with the final authority in
matters pertaining to uniform type for the blind.

The commission, acting under its delegated powers,
now officially adopted for use in the United States Re-
vised braille grade 1 1/2 as the uniform type for the blind
of America, while utilizing mathematical and chemical
notations of the British as standard.

The following year the commission agreed that the
British key to the braille music notation together with
such additions and amplifications authorized by the Na-
tional Institute for the Blind in London, should be the
standard, except that the text to be published in the
United States should conform in its verbal text to grade
1 1/2 of Revised braille. So far as America was concerned,
it now had a uniform type which it believed would be

45

AS I SAW IT

equally usable by British and American finger-readers.
Experience, however, showed that the British made com-
paratively little use of American books partly because
the libraries for the blind of Great Britain did not offer
many such books to the readers and partly because facile
readers of grade 2 in England were slowed down in their
reading by the fact that grade 1 1/2 , by the omission of
so many contractions, presented to the finger in prac-
tically every sentence several words which had an alto-
gether different form from that to which the reader was
accustomed. Obviously, there was much yet to be done
before the benefits of a uniform type for the English-
speaking world could be enjoyed.

In 191 9 the Commission on Uniform Type asked the
American Printing House for the Blind to employ a
competent man to make decisions regarding the various
phases of work involved in printing for the blind, the
standardization of printing, etc., use of types, etc., said
man to be thoroughly conversant with the technical
and educational problems involved in printing embossed
books and the manufacture of apparatus for the blind.
This man was supposed to act on all technical and edu-
cational questions in conjunction with a joint committee
to be appointed respectively by the trustees of the Amer-
ican Printing House for the Blind and the Commission
on Uniform Type for the Blind. The failure of the
trustees of the American Printing House for the Blind
to pass favorably upon this request made it incumbent
upon the chairman of the commission to appoint various
subcommittees to carry on the work contemplated.

One of these subcommittees was concerned with in-
ternational unity. One more attempt was made to win
British cooperation. Mr. Burritt and Mr. Latimer wrote

46

THE WAR OF THE DOTS

a joint letter in behalf of the commission to the British
authorities reporting that a new subcommittee had been
appointed to act with the British as an international sub-
committee on uniform type. Nothing came of this be-
yond an invitation to come to England to study their
braille reproducing processes which, according to Sir
Arthur, had then reached a "state bordering on per-
fection."

The American blind were tired, however, of changes.
Many still living had first learned linetype, then New
York Point, then American braille, then Revised braille
grade 1 1/2 . The rank and file of finger readers had a good
deal of sympathy with a speaker at one of the national
conventions who in a burst of oratory said, "If anyone
invents a new system of printing for the blind, shoot
him on the spot." It was deemed wise therefore to let the
discussion of complete uniformity between the United
States and Great Britain lie dormant for awhile.

In 1922 the Commission on Uniform Type gave its
report to the American Association of Instructors of the
Blind and recommended that it be discontinued and that
its powers be delegated to the newly organized American
Foundation for the Blind. The same recommendation
was made by the Commission on Uniform Type to the
American Association of Workers for the Blind at its
convention in Janesville in 1923. The recommendation
was adopted and the Foundation accepted the responsi-
bility. It, however, exercised its powers with great reserve
because it felt that the instructors' association whose
members controlled most of the braille printing in the
United States had not acted entirely favorably upon the
delegation of authority. It was natural that the printing
houses and the men who controlled them should be con-

47

AS I SAW IT

servative about making any more changes in the braille
system. The abandonment of New York Point and
American braille had been a costly action as it meant the
scrapping of a supply of tens of thousands of braille
plates which had been manufactured at so much expense
over so many years.

The American Printing House, in the meantime, went
forward with the publication of a new set of textbooks
and supplementary reading matter in braille grade \l/2.
Most current magazines adopted grade 1 l/2 and practi-
cally all the books of any kind published for the blind
in the United States between 191 7 and 1932 were in this
grade of braille. The matter was left dormant until the
late 1920's when the American Foundation for the Blind
began to study the relative merits of grade 1 1/2 and grade
2 from a somewhat new standpoint.

Investigation showed that grade 2 occupied some
twelve per cent to fourteen per cent less space than
grade 1 l/2 and could be written with the use of a sub-
stantial percentage of fewer dots. Furthermore, the ad-
vantages of interchanging books with Great Britain
where large numbers of interesting titles were being
produced each year, could not further be ignored. While
the British readers looked longingly at the rapidly grow-
ing selection of titles in grade 1 1/2 , they claimed that
they could not read it as rapidly as grade 2. At first the
Americans felt that the contention that grade 1 1/2 could
not be read as rapidly as grade 2 by experienced grade
2 readers was just an illustration of British obstinacy.
However, there was a psychological basis for this British
contention. Rapid finger-readers, like visual readers, do
not spell out words character by character; they come
to recognize many common words, especially short ones,

48

THE WAR OF THE DOTS

by their word form. Many words as written in grade 2
have an entirely different word form than the same word
in grade 1 y2. For example, "nation" in grade 2 using an
"n" followed by the two cell contractions for "ation"
contains only three braille characters, whereas "nation"
written in grade 1 1/2 contains six characters.

As a result of this psychological objection, aggravated
probably by a certain amount of prejudices, few grade
1 1/2 books were used in England except by students and
other avid readers who were willing to tolerate the an-
noyances of grade 1 1/2 for the sake of being able to read
certain titles not available in grade 2.

Some of the younger blind men in Great Britain as
early as 1929 began urging that something be done to
meet the Americans part way in order to bring about a
uniform braille code. In that year the writer, who had
then been appointed the executive director of the Amer-
ican Foundation for the Blind, stopped in London on his
way to an International Conference on Work for the
Blind in Vienna. He found that the British authorities
were willing to make a few modifications to grade 2 if
these modifications did not involve any particular incon-
venience to their readers. They were also willing to
consider the dropping of a few signs which were origi-
nally included because of their frequency of recurrence
in religious literature, such as the sign for "Christ," etc.
It was apparent, however, that few concessions would be
made to appease the American reader.

The author, upon his return to the United States,
launched a campaign among blind people to sell the idea
that uniformity was worth one more sacrifice. It was
pointed out that so long as there was lack of uniformity
between the British and Americans, the subject was

49

AS I SAW IT

bound to keep cropping up. Mass meetings of the blind
were held all over the country. Thousands were ad-
dressed on the subject. It was most gratifying to find
how large a proportion were willing once more to un-
dergo the inconvenience of learning a new system for
the sake of stopping the waste resulting from duplication.

Perhaps the most cautious among those interested in
the subject were the seeing superintendents who con-
trolled the American Printing House for the Blind.
When they learned that the executive director of the
American Foundation for the Blind was in England
sounding out the British authorities on the possibility of
making some concessions to bring about the adoption of
a uniform type, a committee of the American Printing
House, the board of trustees, composed principally of
men who were also trustees of the American Foundation
for the Blind, sent the director a cable, a copy of which
does not seem now to be extant. However, the substance
of the cablegram, which was concocted at a meeting in
Louisville, Kentucky, was as follows, "We are not sure
what you are doing in your effort to bring about inter-
national braille uniformity, but whatever it is, please
desist." Fortunately for the director's peace of mind the
cablegram did not reach him until his conferences with
the British authorities were over.

At the World Conference on Work for the Blind held
in New York in 1931 some of the British delegates ex-
pressed themselves as interested in greater braille uni-
formity. There were many informal discussions of the
subject between the American and British though noth-
ing official was done. The fact that during that year the
United States Federal Government began an annual ap-
propriation of $100,000 to meet the cost of printing books

50

THE WAR OF THE DOTS

for the adult blind was probably not without influence
with the more canny British representatives of the blind.
Therefore, when the formal approach to a new con-
sideration was made by the American Foundation for
the Blind the British were ready to receive the Ameri-
cans with cordiality but not prepared to make much in
the way of concessions.

In 1932, public opinion had shifted to such an extent
that a committee of three was appointed, commissioned
both by the American Association of Instructors of the
Blind and the American Association of Workers for the
Blind to go to England with plenary powers to agree
upon a uniform braille code.

On July 19, 1932 the agreement sometimes referred
to as the Treaty of London was signed by the repre-
sentatives of the blind of Great Britain and of the United
States. A key to the slightly modified code was drawn
up in London before the committee adjourned. The bur-
den of the job was borne principally by Louis W. Roden-
berg of the American committee and Miss D. A. Pain
in behalf of the British.

What changes were made by this agreement? Not
many, so far as British braille was concerned. The more
or less valuable religious signs were dropped so far as gen-
eral usage was concerned though they were permitted
in religious books. Publishers were directed to be more
careful about not bridging syllable divisions with con-
tractions. Roman numerals were to be followed by a
period, not an apostrophe. Capitalization was made op-
tional with the publisher. The British two-dot capital
sign and the one-dot italic sign were interchanged. The
British raised little objection to switching the capital sign

51

AS I SAW IT

and the italic sign because in general they didn't intend
to make much use of them anyway.

Grade 2 was now ready for general use in the United
States. The Library of Congress, which pays for the
publication of most of the braille books embossed for
blind adults in the United States, adopted the new grade
2 immediately.

The Treaty of London was confirmed by the Ameri-
can Association of Workers for the Blind at its meeting
in Richmond in 1933, and by the American Association
of Instructors of the Blind in St. Louis, Missouri the fol-
lowing year. The American Printing House adopted the
Standard English braille grade 2 for its junior and senior
high school textbooks.

Upon the unsubstantiated dictum that the use of con-
tractions makes bad spellers, and upon the contention that
grade 2 contains so many contractions and abbreviations
that it is too difficult for the primary pupil to learn, the
authorities of the American Printing House were very
slow to publish lower grade books in any code more con-
tracted than grade 1 1/2 . Gradually, however, grade 2 was
extended downward until since 1950 few books except
for children of the first grade are published in grade 1 1/2 .
This slow adoption of Standard English braille grade 2
has probably resulted in a generation of poor braille
readers, because the method of teaching reading has
forced children to familiarize themselves with three suc-
cessive groups of word forms; first, the word form pre-
sented to the finger by grade 1 (full spelling) used in the
lower, primary grades; second, the word form of grade
1 1/2 used in books below junior high school; and third,
the word forms of grade 2 in which books to be used by
most adults are printed.

52

THE WAR OF THE DOTS

During all this discussion, great hopes were held that
uniformity would prevent duplication and bring about
a cooperation among American and British publishers
that would make the available funds purchase much more
extensive libraries. It was hoped that in some way some
kind of physical exchange of books would be worked
out. As a matter of fact, while the Treaty of London was
being negotiated a representative of the American Print-
ing House and a representative of the Library of Con-
gress went to London to discuss with the braille book
publishers of that country methods of exchange of books.
The basis of exchange was agreed upon, but were never
carried out in more than a token fashion. Some few books
were exchanged, and in a few instances the braille plates
of one country were loaned to the printing houses of the
other country so that books could be printed without
the actual exchange of money. The whole matter was
somewhat complicated by restrictions placed upon the
British authorities in buying abroad. In America the Li-
brary of Congress has felt hampered by a prejudice
against the spending of American tax dollars for British
books when the same books could be manufactured in
this country if enough money were paid for them; that is,
if the Library of Congress, who might want ten or fifteen
copies of a book, would be willing to pay enough for
those books to meet the cost of making plates, the books
could be made in the United States and the American
money kept at home.

The printing houses for the blind in this country must
bear some responsibility for the fact that this exchange did
not work. They were anxious to keep their plants running
at full capacity, and resented seeing part of the federal
appropriation for books for the blind spent in England.

53

AS I SAW IT

But this was not the only reason why the exchange of
books never became active. The Library of Congress had
hoped that the American Printing House, or some other
agency for the blind, would obtain British books in ex-
change for American books and then sell these British
books to the Library of Congress. As the American Print-
ing House and other American braille publishers had no
desire to tie up their money in stocks of British-made
books which they had no binding assurance would be
purchased by the Library of Congress, nothing was done
about it.

This whole matter could be solved by the Library of
Congress if it would face the criticism of a policy of
spending money abroad and would purchase such of its
required books from England as are already published in
braille in that country.

Perhaps this will not take place until someone puts be-
hind this idea something of the drive which brought about
the adoption of a uniform type for the English-speaking
world. Doubtless, sooner or later, someone will take this
matter up aggressively and put an end to the duplication
of books published in braille in the United States and
Great Britain.

In this connection, it may be contended that British-
made braille books will never be as popular in the United
States as they could be until British publishers print their
books properly capitalized as judged by standards for
inkprint books.

We in America have been critical of the British for
not collaborating with the Americans in the development
of a uniform type for the blind people of both the British
Empire and the United States. The Americans, however,
have not been entirely without blame. For example, as

54

THE WAR OF THE DOTS

early as 1902 Dr. F. J. Campbell, later Sir Francis Camp-
bell, wrote a letter in behalf of the British Braille Com-
mittee to the American Association of Instructors of the
Blind which was meeting in Raleigh, North Carolina. It
read in part as follows: "During the last week in April a
large and influential conference was held in London un-
der the auspices of the Gardner's Trust for the Blind. . . .

"Among many subjects which were discussed at the
conference the great need of a uniform system of read-
ing and writing for the blind was felt to be of such im-
portance that a representative committee was appointed
to carefully consider the methods now in use in this
country and in America, and to adopt, if possible, some
system which from its simplicity and general excellence
would be acceptable throughout the English-speaking
world.

"... We hope that your conference may result in great
benefit to the blind in the United States, and we welcome
the opportunity of commending to you this difficult prob-
lem which we have been requested to consider.

"We trust that the convention will appoint a represen-
tative committee to correspond and exchange views with
the English committee, in the hope that our joint delibera-
tion may finally evolve a system which will be acceptable
to both countries. . . .

"The adoption of one system of point writing for the
English-speaking world will cheapen books and bring
the embossed literature of America, the United Kingdom
and Colonies into common use among the blind. . . ."

This letter was sent to Mr. John E. Ray, Superintend-
ent of the North Carolina School for the Blind and given
by him to Mr. Benjamin B. Huntoon, recording secretary
of the association. Dr. Campbell said at the 1907 conven-

55

AS I SAW IT

tion of the American Association of Workers for the
Blind that he learned later that Mr. Huntoon and Mr.
Wait, chairman of the executive committee of the Ameri-
can Association of Instructors of the Blind, thought it
better to put the letter away without reading it to the
convention.

Thus, both sides were at fault during the long struggle
for a uniform type for the blind for the English-speaking
world.

s*

PROGRESS IN
BRAILLE EMBOSSING

SINCE 19OO

Dr. Irwin was Director of the Bureau of Research and Edu-
cation of the American Foundation for the Blind from 1923
to 1929, during the time in which the investigations into
interpoint printing of braille and succeeding experimenta-
tions were carried on.

Embossed printing for the blind has always been a very
expensive process. The world of the blind owes a consider-
able debt of gratitude to the group of men who labored so
faithfully to bring about a very substantial reduction in the
cost of printing for the blind.

fter the invention of the braille stereotype-
maker which made possible embossing from
metal plates, Dr. Edward E. Allen of Per-
kins Institution and his printer, Frank C.
Bryan, continued to study the possibility
of further lowering the cost of puncto-
graphic printing and reducing the bulk of embossed books.
Experiments were also carried on at the New York In-
stitute for the Education of the Blind under the inspira-
tion of William Bell Wait and at the American Printing
House for the Blind under the direction of Benjamin B.
Huntoon.

Since the days of Valentin Haiiy, who printed the first
books for the blind in Paris, France, embossers of books
for the blind were troubled by the fact that the reverse
side of the page from that read by the blind was not used.
Haiiy and some of his successors for a century or more
bound their books in such a way that the thickness of the
page was doubled and the embossed pages laid back to
back in the volume.

Sometimes this was accomplished by pasting the pages
together, sometimes by merely folding them. This ac-
complished little, and since the left hand page is never
quite as easy to read with the fingers as the right hand
page the convenience of blind people was sacrificed pri-
marily to make books for the blind look a little more like
those printed for seeing people.

In both Great Britain and the United States experi-

59

AS I SAW IT

ments were conducted in interlining, that is, embossing
on one side of the page with the lines a little further apart
than necessary for convenient reading, and by embossing
on the opposite side of the page between the lines on the
first side. This was done at Overbrook, at the New York
Institute, and at the American Printing House for the
Blind in Louisville.

Several methods of doing two-side printing were tried
out. One was printing from a single plate embossed on
both sides and attached to a corrugated roller. Another
method was embossing on both sides of a single plate
and printing with a soft rubber roller which would not
only permit the paper to be embossed by the raised dots
but would also force the moist paper into the pits in the
metal sheet. The latter case proved to be a failure be-
cause the trapped air in these pits prevented the dots from
filling the entire cavity. Thus, the resulting dots were of
irregular size. A third way and the one finally adopted
with improvements, was folding the thin metal plates on
which the original embossing was done and stamping the
dots through the two sheets produced by folding. Paper
could then be inserted between the two folded sheets,
run through a press and both sides printed at the same
time. Fairly satisfactory printing was done this way, and
by so doing nearly a third more printing could be done
with the same amount of paper.

Some experimentation was also conducted in what is
called interpointing, that is, embossing on the reverse
side of the page in such a way that the dots on the reverse
side appeared between the lines and also between the dots
on the first page. Theoretically this could be done with-
out spreading the lines any further apart than was neces-
sary for normal printing or spreading the dots any more

60

BRAILLE EMBOSSING

than was necessary for one side printing. Experiments
had been conducted at Overbrook with this method of
printing and in 1898 a small book had been embossed in
this way.

Experience with this form of interpointing, however,
showed that the dots embossed on one side of the page
damaged to some extent the dots on the other side of the
page. For one reason, the machinery used for embossing
was not sufficiently precise to make a perfect register.
For this reason attempts to do interpointing were aban-
doned for some years and attention was concentrated on
improving the interlining.

Interpointing was done in Great Britain and other
European countries during this period, but damage to
letters on the opposite side of the page was obviated by
spreading the dots somewhat, especially in a vertical
direction. The reason why printing of this kind was not
very popular in the United States was probably partly
due to the fact that American braille was not quite as
well adapted to a vertical spreading of dots as was Euro-
pean braille.

The Matilda Ziegler Magazine for the Blind, however,
which was started in March 1907, was because of its
large circulation somewhat more concerned about econo-
mizing on paper than upon a highest possible degree of
legibility. For the sake of getting more printed material
in a magazine of a given number of pages, the readers
were willing to sacrifice something in facility of reading.
But the interpointing in the ephemeral Ziegler magazine
was not considered of a sufficiently high quality to war-
rant printing permanent books in this way.

Furthermore, there was opposition to the use of inter-
pointed books in the schools for other reasons. It is ex-

61

AS I SAW IT

tremely hard to read interpointing by sight because it is
difficult to distinguish by the eye between raised dots
and the depressions or pits of the dots on the opposite
side of the sheet. Seeing teachers, therefore, found inter-
pointing objectionable in textbooks. It was also con-
tended that the pits between the lines and between the
dots were sufficiently noticeable to the touch to cause
some difficulty in finger reading. However, embossing on
both sides of the page effected something like a forty
per cent saving in bulk and theoretically nearly as much
in cost.

The matter was the subject of considerable discussion
down to 1923 when the research department of the
American Foundation for the Blind was set up. The new
department was looking around for a significant research
problem with which to launch its activities. Reduction in
cost and bulk of braille books seemed the most challeng-
ing subject to tackle.

Tests were undertaken immediately to determine to
what extent good interpointing would retard reading. It
was assumed that machinery could be developed which
would emboss equally well on both sides of the sheet. Test
sheets were prepared consisting of groups of nonsense
words and straight reading matter. Blind people were
brought into the New York Public Library one at a time
and asked to read aloud while a trained observer timed the
reading and noted errors and indications of hesitation.
The subjects read the same material both on interpointed
sheets and on sheets printed on one side of the page. The
results showed practically no difference in the relative
legibility of the two styles of printing.

Where there was some apparent difference, it indicated
that the interpointing was read with slightly less speed

62

BRAILLE EMBOSSING

but with slightly more accuracy. Apparently, those who
were not familiar with the interpoint reading material
were distracted to some extent by the pits between the
lines, but this slowing down seemed to give more time for
careful reading.

It was concluded, as a result of these tests, that inter-
pointing well done would in practice affect neither speed
nor accuracy after the reader had had a little experience
with reading it.

The research director of the Foundation decided that
if interpointing and one side printing were equally legi-
ble, the savings in bulk and cost of manufacture far off-
set any inconvenience interpointing might cause seeing
people. The question then seemed to be a mechanical one
— how to develop a machine which would do the best
possible interpointing.

In order to stimulate interest in this subject, the Ameri-
can Foundation for the Blind took Mr. Edgar E. Bram-
lette, Superintendent of the American Printing House
for the Blind, and Mr. Frank C. Bryan, Superintendent
of the Howe Memorial Press in South Boston, on a tour
of visitation to the leading printing houses in Europe.
Visits were made to London, Edinburgh, Paris, Marburg,
Hannover, Steglitz, Leipzig, and Vienna. The committee
returned from Europe convinced that there was no braille
printing machinery in existence which operated with suf-
ficient precision to make consistently good interpointing.

The American Foundation for the Blind then turned to
the Carnegie Corporation and asked for a grant of money
to enable it to develop the required machinery and also
develop a better braillewriter for manuscript purposes.
Through the good offices of Dr. Keppel, President of the

63

AS I SAW IT

corporation, a grant of $75,000 was made to set up an
experimental shop.

A French-Swiss mechanic, assisted by an ingenious
young American, was employed to undertake this de-
velopment work. A precision stereotype machine and a
braillewriter utilizing some of the features of the Hall
Braillewriter were developed which could be manufac-
tured at a reasonable cost.

About the same time, a new braille printing shop on
the Pacific Coast, known as the Universal Braille Press,
managed by a blind man by the name of J. Robert Atkin-
son, was working on the problem of interpointing. He
also developed a machine which would emboss on metal
plates with sufficient precision to do good interpoint.
However, his machine lacked some of the merits of the
American Foundation for the Blind machine in that it
was 50 per cent more expensive and somewhat less sturdy.

However, Atkinson cooperated with the American
Foundation for the Blind in printing some books in inter-
pointing in order to demonstrate that interpointed books
could be made without increasing the line space or the
space between the dots, and still have letters that were
equal to those printed on one side of the page.

The arrangement was that Universal Braille Press would
manufacture the books regardless of cost and the Ameri-
can Foundation for the Blind would meet the expense.
The belief was that after thoroughly acceptable books
had been embossed, much of the criticism of interpointed
books would be eliminated and attention could then be
given to perfecting the process sufficiently to take ad-
vantage of the savings made possible by this method of
printing. Though the first books were quite expensive,
the final result, after a year or two, was that through in-

64

BRAILLE EMBOSSING

terpointing the bulk of braille books had been reduced
by upwards of forty per cent and the cost by almost as
much.

Meanwhile, the American Printing House for the Blind
had been experimenting with various methods of doing
interpointing with machinery developed in its own es-
tablishment. With a change in management of that insti-
tution it eventually adopted the machinery developed
by the American Foundation for the Blind. Both the
machines and the methods have been improved as the
years passed and today no one would think of going back
to one-side printing.

The development work carried on by the American
Foundation for the Blind in connection with perfecting
interpointing cost about $75,000. The economy effected
by this method has, since 1935, saved the taxpayers of
this country more than $75,000 annually, not to mention
the reduced cost per volume of library space for the rap-
idly increasing number of braille books.

Furthermore, elaborate presses for printing embossed
type have been developed so that today several hundred
copies an hour may be produced on large cylinder presses.
The metal plates embossed on the stereotypemaker are
capable of pressing thousands of copies. The plates may
be filed away in much less room than is required for
ordinary type or even stereotyped plates for inkprinting.

65

LIBRARIES
FOR THE BLIND

The present library service for the blind in the United States
stems from legislative action taken by the Federal Govern-
ment in i ps i. The history of the conditions and events that
led up to this legislation and of successive developments is
here told in detail by one who lived and labored through it
all. Dr. Irwin's name 'will always be indelibly associated
with the story of books and reading for the blind.

The libraries for the blind have considerably expanded
their services over the last few years. A change of signifi-
cance occurred in 1952, one year after Dr. Irwin's death,
when an amendment to the Pratt-Smoot law made these
services available also to blind children over the age of five
years.

bout the turn of the century several local
libraries in the United States began re-
sponding to demands from blind people for
library service by making modest begin-
nings at establishing libraries for the blind.
They bought collections of books in raised
type and gave them a certain amount of local publicity.
In their eagerness for something to read, local blind peo-
ple borrowed, and read with avidity, the few volumes
available. Unfortunately, the supply of books in raised
type which the libraries could purchase was extremely
restricted. Aside from a few volumes of religious litera-
ture, about the only books which could be purchased
were those embossed for school use.

Through the small annual allowance to the American
Printing House for the Blind from the Federal Govern-
ment, the schools had gradually built up a small list of
classics for the high school pupils in the residential schools
for the blind. This was augmented by a substantial num-
ber of titles published in American braille by the Penn-
sylvania Institution for the Instruction of the Blind and
by the Howe Memorial Press.

About seventy-five libraries had started collections, the
most active of which were the New York Public Library,
the Chicago Public Library, the Free Library of Phila-
delphia, the Library of Congress, the New York State
Library at Albany, the Cleveland Public Library, the
California State Library, and two special libraries — the

69

AS I SAW IT

one maintained by the Cincinnati Library Society foi
the Blind, and the library of Perkins Institution for the
Blind.

Soon the blind people in these communities had read
all the embossed books in their local libraries. Blind peo-
ple in places remote from the libraries having departments
for the blind found it impossible to call for embossed
books personally, and even though the library might be
willing to mail books to them, the sightless prospective
borrowers could not afford to pay the necessary postage.

Among the libraries which were most active in pro-
moting circulation by mail were the New York State
Library at Albany, the New York Public Library in
New York City, the Chicago Public Library, and the
Library of Congress. Perkins Institution also was very
attentive to requests, especially those coming from former
graduates.

The library departments for the blind at first attracted
much public attention. When, in time, they seemed neg-
lected by sightless readers, who soon had read the entire
collection, the library authorities gradually lost interest
in these departments. Books which had first been dis-
played conspicuously in the front room of the library
found their way gradually to a back room, then to the
attic, and then to the furnace. New readers might drop
into the library to borrow a book but could find no one
readily available who even knew where the books were.
Letters which came from hopeful readers asking about
library service, or requesting the privilege of borrowing
books, received little attention, as most public libraries
in those days carried on very little mail order business. As
a final irony, blind people were pronounced uninterested
in library service.

70

LIBRARIES FOR THE BLIND

In 1904 the Federal Government had stepped in by ex-
tending free mailing privilege to libraries wishing to lend
books to sightless borrowers who could not call at the
library. The libraries with a sustained interest did not re-
strict their lending to the district in which they regularly
served seeing people. Some of them loaned books in sev-
eral states, others included the entire country in their
service district. It was evident, however, that there could
be no great expansion of library service for the blind for
most libraries, as the bulk of their borrowers lived out-
side of the taxing district supporting the establishment.

In 1928 the American Library Association asked the
American Foundation for the Blind to make a study of
the library needs of blind people and how they were be-
ing met. Careful study showed that some blind people
were borrowing books from several libraries. Eliminat-
ing duplications, it was evident that less than 10,000 blind
people in the United States were making any use of any
library. But, worst of all, the libraries that wished to pur-
chase books for their blind patrons had a distressingly
limited source from which such books could be obtained.

Publishing for the blind was not a commercially profit-
able undertaking. Even if the seventy-five libraries hav-
ing some slight interest in the blind could have pooled
their purchasing power, their combined appropriations
would be insufficient to justify even a nonprofit organi-
zation to publish many books. In 191 1 the Howe Pub-
lishing Society for the Blind was organized in Cleveland,
Ohio to raise money locally to produce in braille current
literature which was being read and discussed by seeing
people. This organization carried on for fifteen years or
more but eventually ceased braille printing when the
inauguration of interpointing made it necessary to pur-

71

AS I SAW IT

chase new expensive machinery required for such em-
bossing.

The American Foundation for the Blind, with its ad-
visory committee from the American Library Associa-
tion, finally recommended that the Federal Government
undertake to supply free books for the blind to a selected
list of geographically well-distributed libraries, on con-
dition that these libraries take care of the circulation in
given zones without reference to whether or not these
zones included an area larger than the taxing district
maintaining the library.

The subject was under considerable discussion at the
time, and the plan of having the Federal Government
carry the burden of supplying books met with general
approval wherever there was any interest. The Universal
Braille Press in Los Angeles became interested in this po-
tential new market for braille books. The concern, how-
ever, was the personal property of its manager, J. Robert
Atkinson. Realizing that any federal appropriation for
braille books would not likely be made to a privately
owned company, he set up a nonprofit organization
known as the Braille Institute of America, intended to
handle government orders and distribution of books paid
for with government appropriation, with the tacit under-
standing that the Braille Institute of America would pur-
chase its books from the Universal Braille Press.

With little knowledge on the part of the Universal
Braille Press and the American Foundation for the Blind
as to what the other was planning, they both had bills
before Congress dealing with the subject. For the Foun-
dation, Mrs. Ruth Pratt, Congresswoman from New York
and Senator Smoot of Utah introduced bills into the
House and the Senate respectively authorizing an appro-

72

LIBRARIES FOR THE BLIND

priation of f 100,000 annually to the Library of Congress
for books for the blind, such books to be deposited in re-
gional libraries which would handle the circulation. Mr.
Atkinson on his part arranged for Congressman Crail of
Los Angeles to introduce a bill which would provide
$100,000 annually to be appropriated to the Braille In-
stitute of America for the purchase of braille books to be
distributed to regional libraries throughout the country
in proportion to the number of blind readers they might
muster.

The Pratt bill was referred to the Committee on the
Library, and the Crail bill was referred to the Committee
on Education. Hearings were held before both commit-
tees, and an unfortunate amount of acrimony was en-
gendered. The backers of the Crail bill felt that the
American Foundation for the Blind had tried to thwart
their plans to build up a big braille publishing house on
the Pacific Coast.

The Committee on Education reported the Crail bill
with an extensive printed account of the hearing, but it
never reached the floor of Congress. Helen Keller was
among the prominent people who appeared before the
Committee on the Library in behalf of Ruth Pratt's bill.
Consequently, the Pratt bill was reported out favorably
by the Committee on the Library and was immediately
placed upon the unanimous consent calendar. It passed
the House, and Senator Smoot took it up actively in the
Senate, where it passed and was signed into law by Presi-
dent Hoover on March 3, 193 1.

The act merely authorized the appropriation. It re-
quired considerable effort to get the appropriation com-
mittees of the House and Senate to make the $100,000
available.

73

AS I SAW IT

At that time the American Printing House for the
Blind was receiving an annual appropriation of $75,000
for school books for the blind. The backers of the Pratt-
Smoot bill wanted to make it entirely clear that they had
no desire to interfere with the long-standing allowance
for school books of the American Printing House. In
order to allay any fears of the new law, the word "adult"
was inserted in the bill, specifically indicating that books
published with Pratt-Smoot law funds were for the adult
blind of the country, not the school children. This word
"adult" has made trouble since, as it has made it impos-
sible for juvenile readers whose intellectual interests were
frequently equal to those of adults, to borrow books
printed with Pratt-Smoot law money. Sooner or later
this will probably be corrected, as there is no longer any
misgiving on the part of the American Printing House
for the Blind about the encroachment of this appropria-
tion upon the grant for school books. As a matter of fact,
the American Printing House for the Blind manufactures,
on a contract basis, many of the braille books printed
under the Pratt-Smoot law. This makes available for
school purposes many books of value to junior and senior
high school readers. (See chapter introductory remarks.)

Those unfamiliar with the field of work for the blind
are often surprised at the zealousness with which the in-
terests of the braille printing houses are guarded by their
friends. Sometimes one feels that no commercial con-
cern would fight more fiercely for a privileged position.
When in 1934 the American Foundation for the Blind
requested Congress to include Talking Books as well as
embossed books in the list of publications to be manufac-
tured under the Pratt-Smoot law, the American Printing
House for the Blind feared that sound-reproduction books

74

LIBRARIES FOR THE BLIND

might supplant braille and in some way injure its posi-
tion. At that time the Printing House was not certain
that it could successfully manufacture sound-reproduc-
tion records. This resulted in an interesting situation
which the author, at the risk. of expanding this chapter
too far, will describe.

The request that the Pratt-Smoot law be amended to
include Talking Books passed the House without diffi-
culty. When it reached the Senate there was apparently
no opposition. The author, who was carrying the burden
of securing the enactment of this amendment, passed
through Washington on the morning the bill was com-
ing up for consideration at an executive session of the
Senate Committee on Education and Labor. From his
hotel he called the clerk of the committee to learn the
status of the measure. He was then told that while the
committee would probably act favorably upon it, the
chairman had received that morning sixteen telegrams
of protest.

After hearing the list of persons from whom the tele-
grams had come, he reported to the clerk that they were
all from managers of braille publishing concerns or mem-
bers of their boards of directors. This brought him an
invitation to attend the executive session of the commit-
tee, a rather unusual procedure. He demonstrated the
Talking Book machine before the senators, and Senator
Davis of Pennsylvania, who had a blind brother, asked if
there could be any objection to the bill. The chairman
remarked that there had been no opposition except from
the braille publishers. Perhaps fortunately, the members
of the committee did not realize that these were non-
profit organizations. One committee member remarked
that opposition from this source seemed quite under-

75

AS I SAW IT

standable, and moved that the bill be approved. His mo-
tion was carried unanimously.

Most of the authors of these telegrams have now gone
to their reward, but the telegrams still repose in the na-
tional archives as evidence that, even in the field of work
for the blind, institutional interests are sometimes allowed
to take precedence over the welfare of the blind.

The advent of the Talking Book more than doubled
the number of borrowers from the libraries, until today
there are in excess of 35,000 blind Talking Book readers,
as compared with some 9,000 braille readers. Talking
Books are much more expensive to manufacture than are
braille books, but as they are the only source of reading
matter for a large number of blind people who have lost
their sight in adult years the increased expense is well
justified.

The appropriation for books for the blind has gradu-
ally increased over the years, until today the authorized
appropriation has grown from the original $100,000 for
embossed books to $200,000 for embossed books and
$925,000 for Talking Books and Talking Book repro-
ducers, making a total of $1,125,000. While the full
$1,125,000 has never been appropriated, the grant never
has fallen short of $ 1 ,000,000 and there is little opposition
even among the most zealous of the economy-minded
lawmakers.

The first proposal to Congress for the financing of
Talking Books was a suggested appropriation in 1935 of
$75,000 in addition to the $100,000 for embossed books
specified in the original Pratt-Smoot bill. Even after the
committee had recommended its passage, opposition came
from the Wisconsin School for the Blind, which then
had a close family connection with the office of the

76

LIBRARIES FOR THE BLIND

American Printing House for the Blind. When the matter
came before the Senate, Senator LaFollette of Wisconsin
said he had it on good, disinterested authority from his
state school for the blind that the Talking Book was a
new, untried frill, and he opposed any encroachment
upon the braille appropriation for this purpose, even as
an experiment. Senator Smoot, who was guiding the bill
through the Senate, promised that the Library of Con-
gress would spend nothing for this purpose out of the
current year's appropriation. It was then about the first
of March, and the current appropriation would lapse on
the thirtieth of June.

The author, realizing that Senator LaFollette might
also oppose future legislation on behalf of the Talking
Book, called on him and asked for an opportunity to
demonstrate the machine to him. Senator LaFollette said
he was not interested and was too busy. However, he
never did oppose any future appropriation for Talking
Book records.

The Talking Books were received with so much en-
thusiasm by readers that the librarians in the various de-
partments for the blind were swamped. Formerly the
lending time for braille books in most libraries had been
a month, with renewal privilege for another month, and
often no objection was raised to still further extension
of time. Talking Books, on the other hand, were often
read and returned within two days. This set a speed for
the librarian which was breath-taking. Unfortunately,
the local libraries had their budgets pretty well set and
there seemed to be no way of getting relief from this
new pressure. The librarians, however, met this situation
cheerfully, as they usually do, and worked long hours to
satisfy the demands of their readers. As a matter of fact,

77

AS I SAW IT

most of them were quite enthused over the sudden burst
of interest in their departments.

Unfortunately, library managements have never fully
recognized that the Talking Book has not only doubled
and sometimes trebled the circulation, but that Talking
Books also require more attention than braille books.
When a Talking Book is returned, it must be inspected
for damage, scratches, etc. and the records placed in
consecutive order, before the books are put back on the
shelves. Sometimes if a reader has borrowed two books at
a time he mixes up the records, and librarians must be on
the lookout to see that the records of the Imitation of
Christ are not mixed with those of Goodnight, Sweet
Frince as has been known to happen.

When the Pratt-Smoot bill was passed authorizing the
appropriation of f 100,000 annually to the Library of
Congress for braille books it was up to the librarian of
that establishment to work out a plan for easy and rapid
distribution. Either the Library of Congress could handle
the circulation itself or it could, as the law permitted, set
up depositories throughout the country. The latter plan
was chosen.

Then came the question of how many depositories
should there be; what libraries would be willing to as-
sume responsibility for circulation of books provided by
the Federal Government; what cooperating libraries
would be in a satisfactory geographic location to give
prompt service?

Now that books were to be provided freely by the
Federal Government, progressive librarians saw certain
public relation advantages in having a department for the
blind which, as they saw it, would cause them little addi-
tional expense. It was then up to the Librarian of Con-

78

LIBRARIES FOR THE BLIND

gress to select the regional libraries. It was at first believed
that fifteen regional libraries, properly located, would be
the optimum number. However, there was so much pres-
sure for depository assignments that the Librarian of
Congress finally authorized twenty-seven, in addition to
the Department for the Blind of the Library of Congress
itself. This resulted in such anomalous situations as two
depositories in Washington, D. C, two in the state of
New York, two in Ohio, two in Illinois, two in Cali-
fornia, and only one in the region south of the Ohio
River and east of New Orleans.

Gradually it dawned on the librarians that while they
were getting free books from the government they were
incurring considerable expense for circulation, and one
or two cities which had clamored to become depositories
and had not hesitated to use a little political pressure,
later asked to be relieved of the responsibility. The bur-
den has now become so great on some of these libraries,
who have long since forgotten that they at one time met
the cost not only of circulation but of purchasing books
too, that some other plan of financing these departments
will probably need to be worked out. The federal au-
thorities, who realize the burden, have hesitated to rec-
ommend that the Federal Government meet the entire cost
of operating the branch libraries; first, because it would
be hard to supervise the financial side of the operation,
and second, because there might be a tendency on the
part of lawmakers in Congress to reduce the appropria-
tion for books by at least part of the cost of running the
regional depositories. Possibly some day a plan will be
worked out by which the states will meet the cost of
operating the regional library serving their blind popu-
lation. If it were practicable to have a depository in each

79

AS I SAW IT

state, it would be easier to get this kind of cooperation,
but the number of borrowers in any one state is seldom
large enough to justify the minimum cost of operating
satisfactorily one of these depositories.

In the present situation state pride seems to make it
difficult to get a state appropriation toward meeting a
share of the cost of operating a branch library for the
blind located in another state even though this might cost
less than one-third of the amount it would take to operate
a branch within its own boundaries.

A depository library must not only receive and ship
books but it must give personal service in the way of
answering letters about books, keeping records of books
that each reader has already read so that he will not
inadvertently be sent the same book two or three times
when he, as many readers do, writes in and says; please
send me another book. These libraries not only need to
know what books the blind person has already read but
also be somewhat familiar with the reading taste of each
of the borrowers. This involves knowing something
about his background, the kind of books he seems to
express enthusiasm for, etc.

The Library of Congress has many problems to face,
not the least of which is the selection of subject matter.
We sometimes view with great satisfaction the fact that
we now have over 2,000 titles on Talking Book records.
But when we consider that the reading population of a
town of 25,000 people frequently has a library contain-
ing 15,000 or 20,000 titles, one must admit that the
United States blind population of over 300,000 has
grounds for complaint when it is offered a library list of
Talking Books of only about 2,000 titles. It must be
borne in mind that reading tastes of blind people are as

80

LIBRARIES FOR THE BLIND

broad as those of seeing people. The available choice of
reading matter is restricted to an extent which seeing
people would not tolerate in their public libraries.

This situation will be somewhat improved in time if
the government appropriations continue at the present
size so that more books are added each year. Also, cer-
tain needs are being met by adding to our libraries an
evergrowing number of books recorded directly by
good men and women who voluntarily give their services
to read aloud to the blind people on some kind of re-
cording machine. These records at present are not en-
tirely satisfactory. They are often poorly recorded and
poorly read, and the Talking Book machine designed
for regulation Talking Books is not always suitable for
such records and often destroys a book the first time it
is read. But these matters will gradually be corrected
as the librarians, readers, and blind people gain more
experience.

8l

THE TALKING BOOK

The twentieth anniversary of the Talking Book was cele-
brated in 1954. In this short span of time it has come to
occupy in the lives of many blind people the position of
mi indispensable friend — a friend that is always at their dis-
posal, always ready to read to them at their convenience;
a friend that has succeeded in opening to many of the blind
new intellectual worlds of profit and pleasure.

Dr. Irwin was one of the first among workers for the
blind to foresee the great possibilities of the Talking Book.
He was always very enthusiastic about the new reading
wiedium, and put all his drive and energy behind its develop-
ment.

n the late nineteen-twenties when studies
were being made of the relative legibility
of braille embossing on one and two sides
of the page, investigators were amazed to
find what a small percentage of the blind
^ population in New York City were able to
read with their fingers at all. While the average speed of
finger reading in some of the schools for the blind was
about sixty words per minute, it was necessary for the
investigators to accept people whose speed of reading
was as low as twenty words per minute, in order to con-
veniently get a sufficient number of adult subjects to
make the tests.

This drove home to thoughtful students of the subject
the limitations of embossed literature as a medium for
reading by the blind. It was evident that some other
medium must be found. The new approach proved to be
that of sound and thus, in time, Talking Books came
into being.

Probably every slow finger-reader had long dreamed
of having books recorded on phonograph records so that
he would absorb the subject matter without making any
more conscious effort than did his seeing associates. Ex-
periments had been carried on with the Dictaphone as a
medium for teaching spelling, and for some other work,
in the day schools for the blind in Cleveland, Minne-
apolis, and probably in other places. A study of the sub-
ject made by the author also revealed that the use of the

85

AS I SAW IT

phonograph as a medium for providing literature for the
blind had occurred to Thomas A. Edison as early as 1877
when he filed his first patent on a talking machine, the
"Tinfoil Phonograph." Edison, however, never followed
up this idea, probably because he saw no commercial bene-
fit from exploiting this application of sound-recording.

Back about 1930 nearly all phonograph records for
home use turned at the rate of 78 revolutions per minute.
Electrical transcriptions for broadcasting purposes, usu-
ally made on sixteen-inch discs, were being recorded at
the rate of 3 3 J4 revolutions per minute. However, the
Radio Corporation of America had experimented with
some twelve-inch records for home use at 33% rpm.
This project had been abandoned mainly because the
pick-up arms (which mounted the needle) were so heavy
that they destroyed the records within a very few
playings.

The Edison Laboratories at Menlo Park, New Jersey,
were approached by the American Foundation for the
Blind on the subject of carrying on experiments with the
recording of literature on records, but nothing came of
it. The expense of conducting experimental work at that
laboratory, or at any other commercial laboratory, was
beyond the resources of the Foundation. Therefore, an
application was made to the Carnegie Corporation for a
grant of $25,000 to finance experimental work in the
development of a twelve-inch record which would have
a playing time sufficient to make books issued on phono-
graph records practicable.

When deciding upon the processes to be used in re-
cording Talking Books for the blind every possible
method of recording had to be taken into consideration
such as lateral recording, hill-and-dale recording, record-

86

THE TALKING BOOK

ing on films, recording on wire. Other questions had to
be answered; if the material was to be recorded on discs,
at what speed should the turn-table revolve; should the
usual method be employed of having the turn-table re-
volve at the standard speed, or should advantage be taken
of a suggested method of recording by which the turn-
table speed varies gradually, making it possible for the
material to pass under the needle at a constant velocity
known as constant linear velocity recording.

Shortly before the appeal was made to the Carnegie
Corporation, a William Corbett, who had had some ex-
perience in recording had been interested by the Founda-
tion in the subject. He put the agency in touch with Lin-
coln Thompson, an engineer living in Bridgeport, Con-
necticut, who had access to a recording studio belonging
to the estate of a wealthy man, who, before his death, had
played around with recording as a hobby. In this studio
Mr. Corbett and Mr. Thompson and representatives of
the American Foundation for the Blind made a few ex-
perimental records and demonstrated to their satisfaction
that fifteen minutes of acceptable speech recording could
be made on a twelve-inch record revolving at 33^
rpm. The demonstration of one of these records before
Dr. Frederick Paul Keppel, President of Carnegie Cor-
poration, convinced him and his board that the matter
had sufficient merit to justify a grant of $25,000 to the
American Foundation for the Blind. Jackson O. Kleber,
an engineer from the staff of Electrical Research Prod-
ucts, Inc., popularly known as ERPI, was employed in
1932 to set up a modest laboratory and conduct some
experimental work. The objective of this laboratory was
to perfect a long-playing record which would reproduce
a satisfactory quality of recorded reading matter at a

87

AS I SAW IT

cost which would make practicable the recording of
books.

The laboratories of the Radio Corporation of America
had developed a record material mix which contained
some abrasive mixed with vinylite which was sufficiently
flexible to withstand the jars encountered in transporta-
tion and would not break if dropped on the floor. At the
same time it was sufficiently tough to last through from
fifty to seventy-five or more readings when the proper
needle was used and was changed in accordance with
instructions.

It was decided to make the records about 80/1000 of
an inch in thickness. This seemed the optimum thickness
required for durability in transportation and convenience
in the press feeding during manufacture. There has been
a general trend, however, toward thinner records which
are easier for the blind to handle and which would im-
pose less strain on frail readers when they are handling
a dozen or more records at a time. The thinner record
also has the advantage of a saving in raw material cost.

One element of cost which had not much concerned
the commercial studios was that of manufacturing the
master records from which other records were made.
The difference of $50.00 to $100.00 in the cost of mak-
ing a master record meant little to a commercial organi-
zation which expected to turn out from 10,000 to 50,000
copies from this master record. It was realized from the
beginning, however, that the demand for copies of a
recorded book for the blind would probably not be
much more than one hundred copies of any one title.
Under such conditions, a difference of $50.00 in the
cost of making the master record would mean a differ-
ence of 50^' on each disc. Accordingly, attention was

88

THE TALKING BOOK

first directed toward getting a maximum of reading mat-
ter on each disc at a minimum of cost. One way of
increasing the number of words on a record was to have
it revolve at a slower rate of speed. Various speeds were
considered, but it seemed best to adopt a speed of 3 3 J/3
rpm, since motors for phonographs playing such re-
cords would soon be available on the general market
because of the tentative interest which commercial con-
cerns had already shown in recording at that speed.

The size of the records was important. Experiments
were made with records thirteen and fourteen inches in
diameter, but the twelve-inch record was selected for
several reasons, principally because pressing dies for this
size record were available, and a twelve-inch record
seemed to be the largest which could be stored conven-
iently on shelves in common use. Later experience has
shown that ten-inch discs are so much more conveniently
handled than twelve-inch discs that the American Bible
Society has re-recorded the entire Bible on ten-inch re-
cords. The Library of Congress has experimented to
some extent with records of this size and found them pop-
ular. In the light of experience, economy would seem to
be the only justification for making records over ten
inches in diameter.

Further experiments showed that recording could be
done on a record with grooves closer together than those
generally used. A pitch of from ninety to one hundred
grooves per inch was in common use. It was found that
a good quality of recording for speech purposes could
be obtained from records recorded at a pitch of from
150 to 200 per inch. Great care had to be taken, how-
ever, to record in such a way that the subject matter
in one groove could not be heard while the adjacent

89

AS I SAW IT

grooves were being played. This faint sound coming
from the adjacent grooves is known among recordists as
echo, or is sometimes called "ghost." The higher the pitch
(or number of grooves per inch), the greater becomes
the difficulty of guarding against echo. The high pitch
of recording reduces the material called "land" between
the grooves. There is a tendency, therefore, for this land
to break down causing repeating during reproduction.

All things considered it was decided that 150 grooves
per inch was about the optimum pitch to be used. More
recently, with the advent of lighter pick-up arms and
greater skill of recording, it has been found possible to
increase this pitch to 175 — even to 200 or more — grooves
per inch. Experience may make it possible to increase
the pitch to substantially over 200 grooves per inch.

It was decided to begin the recording on the outer
edge of the record because blind people were more ac-
customed to playing ordinary phonograph records that
way. In an effort to obtain as much satisfactory reading
material as possible on a twelve-inch record it was found
that when the needle was placed on the groove at the
outside of the record a very satisfactory reproduction
was obtained by lateral recording. This reproduction
deteriorated as the needle approached the center. Down
to an eight-inch diameter very good reproduction was
obtained. From eight inches in, the quality rapidly fell
off until, with the instruments available at a reasonable
price in 1932, the quality at the four-inch diameter was
reduced to the minimum acceptable for Talking Book
records. This was due largely to the speed with which
the sound groove passes under the needle. More recently,
recording methods have been improved so that eventually
books may sometime be recorded down to a three-inch

90

THE TALKING BOOK

circle. However, the space requirements of the braille
label will always limit the size of the inner circle some-
what.

When the record revolves at 33 y$ rpm the speed of
the needle at the four-inch diameter is about seven inches
per second. When the intelligibility of reproduction is
the only thing to be considered, a needle passing through
the groove at a greater speed is simply a waste of groove
length. It had to be considered whether or not it was
possible to produce a machine which would pass the
record under the needle at seven inches per second from
the time it was placed on the outer edge of the record
until it reached the four-inch diameter. If the passage of
the needle through the groove could be kept at a constant
seven-inch speed it would require about thirty-three
minutes for the needle to pass the full length of the ap-
proximately 2000 inches of groove of a twelve-inch re-
cord cut at a pitch of 150 grooves per inch.

For many years inventors had struggled with this
problem. Bell and Tainter patented a machine for play-
ing such a record in 1886. The method of recording was
known as constant linear velocity recording. Though
Bell and Tainter patented such an instrument they never
produced a machine which would do the job satisfac-
torily under any but laboratory conditions. Several other
inventors attempted to accomplish the same end without
success. It was decided by the engineer of the American
Foundation for the Blind that it would be unwise for its
laboratory with its limited funds to attempt to solve the
problem which had caused so much expense and failure
to other inventors. Constant linear velocity therefore was
abandoned.

An inventor living in Los Angeles persuaded J. Robert

91

AS I SAW IT

Atkinson, Managing Director of the Braille Institute of
America that he could develop a satisfactory, inexpen-
sive and thoroughly practical constant linear velocity
machine. It was argued that if this method could be ap-
plied satisfactorily, it would reduce the cost of manu-
facturing Talking Books by something like fifty per
cent. In view of this Atkinson felt that before recom-
mending the establishment of Talking Book libraries the
Foundation should more thoroughly investigate this re-
cording method. He protested vigorously against the
Foundation's decision to disregard the constant linear
velocity method and had an experimental machine built
which he called the Readaphone.

In order to settle the matter once and for all the Foun-
dation invited the two gentlemen from California to
come to New York, at its expense, and demonstrate the
Readaphone before a jury of outstanding engineers ap-
pointed by the Radio Corporation of America, Bell Lab-
oratories and two or three smaller concerns. This jury
witnessed the demonstration, examined the machine care-
fully and reported that the Readaphone was no better
than any of the other machines which had been offered
to manufacturers many years before and pronounced
failures. However, blind people had been thoroughly
aroused by Atkinson's publicity on the subject. Dr.
H. H. B. Meyer, Director of Project, Books for the Blind
of the Library of Congress, therefore, finally made the
following announcement in the Outlook for the Blind
for April 1935:

"Judging from the letters received here, there seems
to be a good deal of apprehension on the part of blind
readers all over the country that we are to be precipitated
into a fight between rival reproducing machines for the

92

THE TALKING BOOK

use of the blind, the Readaphone and the Talking Book,
a fight similar to the struggle over embossed types of
several decades ago.

"Let me assure the blind readers through the medium
of the Outlook for the Blind that the Library of Con-
gress will not take part in any struggle, which can only
work to the disadvantage of the blind.

"We shall not furnish the distributing libraries with
any records which cannot be reproduced on the Talking
Book machine of which so many hundreds have been
put out by the American Foundation for the Blind. Un-
der existing circumstances to do so would be worse than
merely foolish. The demand for records for the Talking
Book is so great that our appropriation is not large enough
to meet it.

"If at any time a machine is put on the market which
is universally admitted to be so superior to any in use as
to justify substituting it for all others in use, we shall
again join in the movement for something better for the
blind."

It is interesting to note that the Audograph, an office
machine for dictating purposes has more recently been
developed utilizing the constant linear velocity princi-
ple. However, this machine is quite expensive and it is
doubtful if an inexpensive machine giving high quality
reproduction could even yet be built.

The Talking Book for the blind was based on the
principle of the long-playing phonograph record on
which Frank L. Dyer, the inventor, had obtained a series
of patents. At the time when the American Foundation
for the Blind recommended the establishment of Talking
Book libraries, law suits were pending in which Mr. Dyer
was trying to force the Radio Corporation of America and

93

AS I SAW IT

other record manufacturing concerns to pay him a roy-
alty on radio transcriptions recorded at the rate of 33 V3
rpm. Mr. Dyer's patent was clear enough on the sub-
ject, but the commercial concerns claimed that this was
not a patentable principle, and later he lost his case.

Meanwhile, however, the American Foundation for
the Blind had no desire to be involved in this litigation
which might cause long delay and expense. The author
approached Mr. Dyer on the subject, and he agreed to
give the Foundation — and later, the American Printing
House for the Blind — free right to use his patent in
making records for the exclusive use of the blind. Mr.
Dyer imposed only one condition, viz., that every Talk-
ing Book record that used his patented method should
bear the legend "Isabelle Archer Dyer Memorial Re-
cord" in honor of his deceased wife. In spite of court
action invalidating the Dyer patent the American Foun-
dation for the Blind continued to place this inscription
on the record labels throughout the life of the patent.

Other kindred difficulties arose. Before Talking Books
could be recorded, it seemed desirable to clear the mat-
ter with the copyright owners. The Book Publishers'
Association and the Authors' League were approached
on the subject. The Authors' League readily recom-
mended to its members that they give the publishers of
Talking Books for the blind the privilege of recording
their works free as had long been done in the case of
publishers of embossed books. The Book Publishers' As-
sociation, feeling that any control of copyright material
was very doubtful after it had been on a record, was a
little more cautious. One prominent book publisher said
that the book publishers had seen very valuable rights to
make moving pictures of their literature practically given

94

THE TALKING BOOK

away, because the book companies had not realized this
great source of potential income. They were not pro-
posing to throw away any other valuable rights.

After long deliberation, however, the executive board
of the Book Publishers' Association voted to recommend
to its constituent members that they give the nonprofit
book publishers for the blind the right to record any
copyright material upon the payment of a token fee —
$25.00 per book — which was divided between the pub-
lisher and the author. It was stipulated, however, that
every book should carry in inkprint as well as in sound
recording the words "Solely for the use of the blind." It
was further stipulated that such records should not be sold
to seeing people or played over the radio.

These negotiations were somewhat complicated by
nervousness engendered by the fear of braille book pub-
lishing concerns that the Talking Book might eventually
put them out of business. This proved to be an un-
grounded fear as braille book publishers have as much
business today or more than they had before the advent
of the Talking Book. As a matter of fact, the largest
braille book publisher in the country, the American
Printing House for the Blind, has set up a Talking Book
manufacturing department rivaling that of the Founda-
tion. The Printing House has also contributed substan-
tially to the development of methods of reducing the
cost of Talking Book manufacture.

With the technical and legal difficulties largely solved,
the American Foundation for the Blind approached the
Federal Government with a proposal that it add the
circulation of Talking Books to its library service to the
blind.

A complication in the development of Talking Book

95

AS I SAW IT

libraries was the fact that Talking Book records could
not be reproduced on the standard home phonograph in
common use at that time. A special phonograph costing
upwards of $40.00 to $50.00 to manufacture was re-
quired. When the representative of the American Foun-
dation for the Blind appeared before a congressional com-
mittee urging the appropriation of a substantial sum of
money for the establishment of Talking Book libraries
for the blind, he was embarrassed by the question,
"How many blind people would be in a position to read
these books if they were placed in the libraries?" He had
to admit that at that time no blind person owned a re-
producer known as a "Talking Book machine." Too
many blind people are poor, and why should they spend
their meager resources for Talking Book machines when
there were no Talking Books to play on them? The
guardians of the public treasury very properly replied,
"Why should the government make Talking Book re-
cords available if there are no blind people equipped to
use them?" This was a vicious circle which had to be
broken in some way.

The representative of the Foundation then responded
that he would raise the money privately for twelve hun-
dred machines during the current year, if Congress would
appropriate $75,000 for Talking Book records. This was
a challenge which was accepted by the lawmakers, and
in spite of protests from the nonprofit braille publishing
concerns, Talking Book libraries were started.

The Junior Women's Clubs of New Jersey and other
organizations were approached for help in raising money
for the purposes of buying Talking Book machines and
lending them to would-be blind readers. When the year
rolled around and it was time to consider another federal

96

THE TALKING BOOK

appropriation, it was possible to report that fifteen hun-
dred blind people were equipped with Talking Book
machines. From that time on, little difficulty was ex-
perienced.

It would have been extremely difficult to raise money
for the 15,000 or 20,000 Talking Book machines which
soon were needed, because in the 1930's in the depth of
the depression it was not easy to find money for what
looked to the average man on the street like luxuries.
However, advantage was taken of conditions which grew
out of the depression itself. It was proposed that a
Works Progress Administration project be set up on
which Talking Book machines for the blind would be
manufactured. It seemed reasonable that the manufac-
ture of Talking Book machines would be a much more
justifiable use of federal relief money to provide employ-
ment than would the raking of leaves in the parks, or
some of the then famous boondoggling projects. The
difficulty was that in the cost of manufacturing a Talk-
ing Book machine, only about one-third represented
direct labor. The WPA managers had adopted the prin-
ciple that at least seventy-five per cent of the cost of a
WPA financed project should go to labor. While every-
one agreed that the manufacture of Talking Book ma-
chines was a worthy one, it was necessary to appeal to
President Roosevelt himself to get it authorized. In this
appeal, Major M. C. Migel, Helen Keller and Mary Hun
were most instrumental.

After a long series of negotiations requiring over a
year, Harry Hopkins' name was finally placed upon the
authorization of a Talking Book machine WPA project
which was sponsored by the Library of Congress and
supervised by the American Foundation for the Blind.

97

AS I SAW IT

Three hundred unemployed persons were put to work
in New York City in February 1936. Of the three hun-
dred more than fifty were blind. Chester C. Kleber, later
General Manager of National Industries for the Blind,
was placed in charge. It was a fortunate choice of man-
agement, because Kleber had a flair for handling difficult
operations requiring the cooperation of government offi-
cials, common labor, technical men and the general pub-
lic. On this project more than 20,000 Talking Book
machines were manufactured. These machines, which
were legally the property of the Library of Congress,
were loaned free of charge to blind people to whom it
would seem a burden to purchase a Talking Book ma-
chine. It was pointed out that few seeing people would
use the public libraries if in order to do so they had to
purchase a special pair of glasses costing $40.00. The
Library of Congress was always liberal in its interpreta-
tion of need in this case.

In time, these WPA-made Talking Book machines
gradually wore out. The Library of Congress then ac-
cepted the principle that free Talking Book library serv-
ice called for free Talking Book machines. The WPA
machines in time were replaced by new ones manu-
factured on a contract basis for the Library of Congress.
About the only restriction which was placed upon the
lending of Talking Book machines was that the borrower
must be blind, under a definition of blindness prescribed
by the Library of Congress, and also that the borrower
must make a reasonable amount of use of the library.

At first the definition of blindness used by the Library
of Congress was as follows, "Suffering from a defect of
vision which makes it impossible or unsafe to read ordi-
nary printed books." Later, as the demand for Talking

98

THE TALKING BOOK

Book machines greatly exceeded the supply, this defini-
tion was tightened up a bit, to coincide with the defini-
tion used in administering relief in most states by the
social security agencies. The reading materials provided
by the Library of Congress are now available for loan
without charge to residents of the United States, its
territories, and insular possessions whose central visual
acuity is 20/200 or less in the better eye with correcting
glasses or whose field of vision at its widest diameter
subtends an angular distance no greater than 20 degrees.

This definition of blindness may be too narrow as it
excludes a considerable number of people who, though
they have some vision, are unable to make any practical
use of inkprint books.

There has always been a certain amount of demand
that Talking Book libraries be available to people with
good sight who, because of physical conditions, are un-
able to hold an inkprint book in their hands, such as
hopelessly crippled persons, invalids confined to their
beds in such a way that they must lie constantly on their
backs, etc. Several bills have been introduced into Con-
gress which would open Talking Book libraries to such
people. These bills have, to the date of writing, all failed
for various reasons; first, the difficulty of defining who
is eligible to use such books; second, the fear on the part
of copyright owners that the privilege which they were
willing to extend to the blind might be abused by persons
who would be potential customers for inkprint books;
and for other reasons, important among which is the
fact that no one knows how many readers this might
add to the already over-burdened staffs of the libraries
for the blind.

How should the records be packed for mailing? This

99

AS I SAW IT

required more experimentation than the average person
realizes. The container must be as light as possible and
at the same time stand such rough handling as tossing
from the top of a mail truck to the pavement and the
like. Various kinds of sheet metal were experimented
with but finally fibreboard with metal corners was
selected. These boxes were strapped shut in much the
same fashion as containers for laundry that are to be
shipped through the mail. The depth of the box was
determined with the convenience of the reader and the
postman in mind. It was decided that a gross weight of
fifteen pounds was about all that could be conveniently
handled. This is probably too heavy for many elderly
readers and advantage should, therefore, be taken of the
present possibility of getting as much material on a thin
ten-inch record as was formerly recorded on a twelve-
inch record.

An economical method of marking records in braille
had to be developed. Braille of the standard size was
selected with a minimum of wording indicating title,
author and reader. Indicating the reader is important be-
cause it has been shown that the choice between two
titles is often made by the borrower on the basis of the
reader. Some Talking Book readers are as popular among
blind Talking Book users as are movie stars among the
cinema goers. Blind visitors to the American Foundation
for the Blind get a tremendous thrill out of meeting such
popular readers as Alexander Scourby, John Knight,
John Brewster, etc. The voices of these readers are as
well-known in the homes of thousands of blind people
as are the voices of their most intimate friends.

Much study was given to the question of the speed of
reading. After conversations with radio commentators it.

IOO

THE TALKING BOOK

was decided that the speed of reading fiction should be
between one hundred sixty and one hundred seventy-
words per minute, whereas with material requiring closer
attention such as the Bible or scientific works, the read-
ing should be possibly as slow as one hundred fifty
words per minute.

Studies made with Talking Book readers showed that
"listener fatigue' ' diminished as the quality of reproduc-
tion became more and more like that of the human voice.
It was decided that while it might seem more economical
to hire a staff of one or two readers, as is done in Eng-
land, to read all books, this plan was rejected for several
reasons. First, a studio would be crippled if the staff
reader contracted a bad cold making his voice unusable
for several days. Furthermore, it was found that a much
more artistic result was obtained when the quality and
character of voice was considered in connection with
each book. Some voices are well adapted to reading
scientific material requiring little inflection or interpre-
tation, other books are much more interesting when read
by a reader who puts some enthusiasm into his reading.
While women readers' voices usually do not reproduce
well, a story told by a woman in the first person seems
much more appropriately read if done by a feminine
voice. Jane Eyre is a good example of why books of this
type should be read by a woman rather than by a man
with a deep voice. The Diary of a Provincial Lady is a
good illustration of the incongruous effect of the wrong
book being read by a man.

The work of William Barbour in choosing specific
readers for certain Talking Books over a period of several
years added greatly to the pleasure derived by readers of
these books. His casting of readers for specific works

IOI

AS I SAW IT

did much to set the tone for Talking Books in this
country.

Talking Book studios for the most part draw on
readers from radio personnel. While using nonprofes-
sional volunteer readers might save a little money the
disadvantages of using them outweigh any economy that
might be so effected since the reader's fee constitutes
less than ten per cent of the cost of making a record. Few
voices record well; perhaps not five per cent of the
applicants to the American Foundation for the Blind for
reading assignments can pass the voice tests. Furthermore,
most volunteer readers are not dependable about report-
ing for duty on time, and if a studio with expensive equip-
ment and staff is kept waiting for a volunteer reader
who must be handled with much tact, considerable
money is lost.

Radio actors rather than announcers were selected for
reading because announcers seldom have the talent for
voice expression that good radio actors possess. It was
found that many radio actors of high quality could be
employed at very reasonable rates because they could
work in the studio of the American Foundation for the
Blind during hours that did not conflict with their
radio engagements which usually come in the evening.
AFRA (American Federation of Radio Actors) has
been most considerate about permitting its members to
read Talking Books for the blind. The actors, on their
part, have felt that in this way they have been able to
cooperate with the nonprofit Talking Book studios in
making the government appropriation produce a maxi-
mum number of titles with the limited funds available.

In a very few instances authors have read their own
books in entirety. Jan Struthers, author of Mrs. Miniver,

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THE TALKING BOOK

very kindly read all of this book. However, few authors
have the voice or a special talent for reading. Frequently,
the Talking Book studios, especially that of the Ameri-
can Foundation for the Blind, have arranged with the
authors to read the first chapter of their books or specially
prepared introductions. It was felt that in this way the
reader would come into more intimate contact with
them. Eleanor Roosevelt (This I Remember) , Thomas
Mann (Buddenbrooks), and W. Somerset Maugham (Of
Human Bondage), are among those who have read in-
troductions or parts of their books.

One of the most popular well-known personalities
who has done reading for the Talking Book was Alex-
ander Woollcott. He was tremendously interested and
very kindly volunteered to read, without charge, some
of his works such as While Rome Burns, and other books
of which he was particularly fond. He was temperamen-
tal, though, and the entire staff of the Talking Book
department of the American Foundation for the Blind
stood in fear of an explosion whenever he came to the
studio to read. However, his artistry, even though it
might result in nervousness among the members of the
technical staff, resulted in some of the most fascinating
reading for the blind.

Dialogue reading using two or more voices was never
tried out as it was deemed unnecessary to so add to the
expense of production. It was felt that after all a Talk-
ing Book is not a drama and few books are written to be
read in this way. However, some fifty plays have been
recorded with cast. They are extremely popular among
library borrowers, but the expense of recording dramas
with good actors has deterred the Library of Congress
from having as many plays done in this way as the blind

103

AS I SAW IT

people would like. We hope that some time the various
problems resulting from technical difficulties and the
rules of the Actors Equity Association will be ironed out
and more plays, especially prepared for broadcasting or
suitable for recording, will be made available for libraries
for the blind.

What is the future of the Talking Book for the blind?
Is the disc the best form to be employed? From the be-
ginning, film recording was considered by Mr. Kleber
and other interested engineers. As a matter of fact, the
possibility of film eventually replacing the disk has held
back to some extent the all-out development of Talking
Book libraries in Great Britain. However, as yet the
technical problems connected with film Talking Books
have not been solved. Some of these problems are; first,
the expense of multiplying books from master record-
ings; second, the expense of reproducers, which is to
date much higher than that of disc reproducers; third,
the difficulty of manipulating film reproducers.

There is in almost every home of a blind person at
least someone who has operated a phonograph. Most
blind people have themselves done so at some time or
other. This makes it very easy for a blind person to
learn to operate a Talking Book disc machine. It would
be somewhat more difficult to teach him to operate a film
reproducer.

Furthermore, films have a way of getting broken,
which would introduce repair problems in already over-
burdened libraries for the blind.

In the early experimental days wire recording as a
method of making Talking Books for the blind was also
investigated but soon discarded by the American Foun-
dation for the Blind laboratory as impracticable. The

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THE TALKING BOOK

reproducers cost too much money and it was believed
that wire would cause too many complications both for
readers and librarians. It is too difficult to refer back to
any particular spot of the wire recording and the per-
manence of such recording is questionable because of the
tendency to demagnetize and because of the increase of
background noise as time goes on.

In later years recording on tape has been brought to
the foreground. This type of recording at first glimpse
offered real advantages over wire recording, in being
easier to handle and less subject to breakage, and in pro-
viding better fidelity or tone quality. In addition, it is
possible to record several bands on a single reel, and by
employing an even number of bands the recording would
end at the start of the reel, eliminating the delay of re-
winding.

Much experimentation has been carried on with tape
recording in this country and abroad. So far, the disc
is still considered superior. It might be mentioned, how-
ever, that Talking Books are now first recorded on tape
and later re-recorded on discs for the use of the blind.

Most Talking Book records produced in the United
States are made by the American Foundation for the
Blind and the American Printing House for the Blind
in Louisville, Kentucky. The Printing House has been
somewhat handicapped by competition from the Ameri-
can Foundation for the Blind in the Talking Book field
because of the fact that New York City affords a much
wider selection of part-time reading talent than does
Louisville. On the other hand Louisville has long been a
low cost city so that technicians and other employees
can be hired in Louisville much more cheaply than in New
York. The Library of Congress deliberately has divided

105

AS I SAW IT

its orders between the Printing House and the Founda-
tion in order to keep the two organizations competing
with one another to reduce prices and increase quality.

There is an unfortunate lack of cooperation between
British and American Talking Book libraries. The British
experimented with the development of Talking Book
records even before such experiments were carried on
in this country. Lieutenant-Colonel Sir Ian Fraser, Chair-
man of St. Dunstan's for Men and Women Blinded in
War Service, in London, is much interested in all kinds
of electronic equipment. He experimented with the re-
cording of literature on Talking Book records many
years ago, before the days of the magnetic "pick-up."
He abandoned the idea because of the difficulty of get-
ting sufficient subject matter on a single record.

At one time, in discussing the honor of priority in this
field, he remarked to the author that we might fairly
divide the credit because, as he claimed, Britain had
made the first Talking Book record but America had
made the first Talking Book book.

In the effort to extend the playing time of the records
the British authorities did not have the compunction that
the American engineers had about breaking commercial
standards. They finally adopted a record revolving at
the rate of twenty-four rpm and recorded at a pitch
of 200 grooves per inch. These records, though they did
not, at least in the beginning, have the quality of the
American records, did have the merit of playing some
twenty-five minutes per side of the disc, as compared
with fifteen or sixteen minutes on the same size of Amer-
ican discs. In America Talking Book machines were pro-
duced which would play not only American records but
also the 24 rpm British records, but they required some

106

THE TALKING BOOK

careful adjustment to shift from 33% to 24 rpm which
seems to have been too difficult for the average home
reader. Besides, there was some objection to the British
accent used on these records, and they never became
very popular in the United States. The British machines
are more easily adjusted to play 24 or 33% rpm records
at will. The British, who have been conditioned to the
American accent through the cinema and otherwise,
seemed to have little objection to American Talking
Books, so that practically all records made in America
are available to the British readers. Effort should be con-
tinued to bring the United States and Great Britain to-
gether on this subject so that there is not the wasteful
duplication of records which is now going on between
the two countries.

The number of blind people possessing Talking Book
machines and the list of Talking Books available in the
libraries for the blind in Great Britain have not matched
those in the United States, partly because the British
libraries are still dependent upon private philanthropy
for this service. Furthermore, there is a reluctance on the
part of some British home teachers about introducing
their clients to the Talking Book until they have mastered
braille. They feel that when a newly blinded person
finds that he can read without acquiring a knowledge
of braille he will not go through the arduous process of
learning touch reading and writing.

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PERIODICALS
FOR THE BLIND

There are at present close to two hundred braille, tivo
Moon type, three New York Voint, and jour Talking Book
periodicals published in the United States. They represent
various types, ranging from general news magazines to those
devoted to special subjects, to religious publications, to cur-
rent events papers for school use, to house organs of various
kinds, etc., including three periodicals published especially
for the deaf-blind. Dr. Irwin's time was too short to give
coverage to all of them, or to make a representative selec-
tion of a few from each group. His special leaning toward
historical research made him turn first to the early pioneers
and to their efforts at providing periodical reading matter
for the blind. He knew well the problems that made these
early efforts difficult and soinetimes impossible of success.
With the passage of time the situation has changed some-
what and financial backing has been found for the present
large number of periodicals for the blind.

he history of periodicals for the blind be-
gan in 1867 when a publication appeared
printed in linetype using capitals and lower
case letters in a special system, devised by
Napoleon B. Kneass of Philadelphia. In
1 890 it was brought out also in New York
Point. It was known as the Kneass Quarterly Magazine
for the Blind and contained articles of general interest and
a few pages of advertising. This was read eagerly by
blind people. Even every word of the advertising was
read carefully by most readers. However, the subscrip-
tion price was pretty high for blind people, especially in
those days when dollars were particularly difficult for
sightless people to come by. The magazine was very
thin, but most welcome to those who could afford it. It
had only a few hundred subscribers.

Mr. Kneass continued to pioneer in the field of peri-
odicals for the blind by establishing in 1876 Kneass' s
Philadelphia Magazine for the Blind, and in the same
year Kneass's Music Journal. All of these magazines had
ceased to appear about the turn of the century, but they
represented a new approach to reading material for the
blind.

Another pioneer in the publication of periodical litera-
ture for the blind was Joseph Gockel of Milwaukee,
Wisconsin. In 1900 he began the publication of a cur-
rent events magazine, The Weekly Review, which was
continued for a little over thirty years. About 191 6 he

1 1 I

AS I SAW IT

also started a small Catholic magazine, The Lux Vera.
There was a short period when the two magazines were
merged into one. After a time the current events section
was discontinued but The Lux Vera was published until
Mr. Gockel's death in 1941.

The magazines were first printed in New York Point,
but changed to braille about 1930.

Mr. Gockel was always a devout Catholic. In mission-
ary circles he obtained some prominence in his diocese.
He was a man who stood very high among the blind and
was much thought of by all who were acquainted with
him.

History was made in the field of periodicals for the
blind with the establishment, in 1907, of the Matilda
Ziegler Magazine for the Blind. This history is also the
history of Walter G. Holmes.

In 1906, Mr. Holmes, a young man on the editorial
staff of the Memphis Commercial Appeal, went to New
York and Boston to consider an offer which he had re-
ceived from the Hearst Publications. While there he
contacted his friend, Paul Block, and seriously considered
entering into an advertising business with this gentle-
man. While these matters were under consideration, Mr.
Holmes read in one of the New York papers a notice
of the probating of a will leaving a substantial sum of
money to various charities, not including the blind. Mr.
Holmes, who had a blind brother slightly older than
himself and for whom he had a great affection, wrote an
open letter to the paper, asking why someone did not
leave a bequest for the benefit of the blind. Not intend-
ing to pursue the matter, Mr. Holmes did not wish his
address published, but it was inadvertently done.

Within a few days he received a letter from Mrs. E.

1 12

PERIODICALS FOR THE BLIND

Matilda Ziegler, wife of William Ziegler of Royal Bak-
ing Powder fame. Mrs. Ziegler, who had a blind son and
who had read Mr. Holmes' open letter, expressed her in-
terest in his thought and inquired about any specific
ideas he might have. She signed only her initials E. M. Z.
and gave her address. A meeting ensued in which Mr.
Holmes suggested the need of a magazine for the blind.
After considerable discussion Mrs. Ziegler agreed to set
up and maintain such a magazine, to be sent free or prac-
tically free to sightless people under one condition, Mr.
Holmes must be its editor. Mr. Holmes then had about
decided to go into what later proved to be a very profit-
able advertising venture with Mr. Block. After some
thought he agreed to edit Mrs. Ziegler's magazine for the
blind on a half-time basis for an extremely modest salary.
As a matter of fact, Mr. Holmes never went on with his
advertising business and gave full time to the magazine
for the rest of his life. Mrs. Ziegler was an extremely
modest benefactor and at first refused to permit her
name to be used in connection with the proposed maga-
zine. It was only after the most insistent urging on Mr.
Holmes' part that she yielded to his suggestion that it be
named The Matilda Ziegler Magazine for the Blind.

After visiting Europe in search of machinery for print-
ing braille which might be suitable for the production of
a magazine for the blind with several thousand subscrib-
ers, he returned to the United States, took the matter up
with manufacturers in this country, and developed a high-
speed cylinder press especially adapted for printing in
raised type. This machinery was unlike anything then
used, either in this country or abroad, and its quality is
attested to by the fact that today it is still in operation
and turning out braille printing of high standard.

113

AS I SAW IT

Mr. Holmes decided to bring out the magazine in both
New York Point and American braille. After consulta-
tion with Mrs. Ziegler they agreed upon charging ten
cents a year subscription price. They felt that while any
blind person might write in and ask for the magazine,
whether he ever read it or not, he might think a second
time about sending a ten cent subscription fee. On the
other hand, it was felt that the subscription fee would
not exclude anyone because of the difficulty of raising
a dime. Later, the ten cents part of the transaction was
eliminated in order to take advantage of the postal law
permitting magazines for the blind to be sent through the
mails postage free when no subscription charge was made.

The Ziegler magazine was a tremendous boon to blind
people. At last, a periodical resembling that received by
their seeing friends was coming into their homes each
month. The mailing list soon climbed to upwards of
10,000, an unheard-of number for a magazine for the
blind anywhere in the world.

From the beginning Mr. Holmes made up his mind
that he would issue a journal which would be within the
intellectual range of the blind man and woman of the
most modest educational attainments. This magazine, from
the beginning, contained a digest of the month's news, a
short story, a popular scientific article, a little verse, a
few jokes, and some article of encouragement to the blind
people themselves. It never allotted any great propor-
tion of its space to organized work for the blind, but for
many years it contained a department variously called
"Suggestions for Success," "Experiences and Sugges-
tions," and "Successful Blind." These were usually letters
from blind men and women who had overcome their
handicap of blindness in a modest way and were making

114

PERIODICALS FOR THE BLIND

a modest living. In this section Mr. Holmes deliberately
gave little attention to the attainments of brilliant men
and women. He felt that the ordinary, garden variety of
success would be more stimulating to most of his readers,
as what such people had been able to accomplish, others
with moderate talents could also do.

The magazine also endeavored to keep blind people
abreast of the development of special appliances for the
blind which may be useful in everyday life. Because of
the ephemeral nature of the publication the management
always felt that it could experiment with various ways
of presenting embossed type, such as interpointing, in-
terlining, etc., and even sometimes with modifications
of the braille code. If the experiments proved unpopular
or unsuccessful, little harm was done, because the maga-
zine would be thrown away, and, after a month or two,
forgotten. It would not be turning up time and again in
the libraries to plague future readers, as would be the
case with volumes of standard literature.

Perhaps the most interesting and influential department
in the Ziegler magazine is the editorial column which Mr.
Holmes in his tenure called the "Publisher's Chat." This
column consists of a page or two of homely comment by
the editor which is read systematically by thousands of
blind people who perhaps seldom read the rest of the
magazine.

Mrs. Ziegler was true to her word and met all the ex-
penses of operating the Ziegler magazine throughout the
balance of her life. When she died she set up a founda-
tion of upwards of three-quarters of a million dollars, the
income from which is used to meet the cost of running
the Ziegler magazine, though the terms of the charter

115

AS I SAW IT

would permit the use of the income for almost any pur-
pose beneficial to the blind.

Mr. Holmes, who started out on a modest salary on
a half-time arrangement, refused to accept very much of
an increase in this salary for the rest of his life. Through-
out his editorship of the magazine, which continued until
his death on February 7, 1946, Mr. Holmes was deemed
the most beloved worker for the blind in America. He
understood the common man and woman without sight
and always had time to stop and discuss personal prob-
lems with any blind person who called at the office. He
was patient and genial with everyone and sincerely in-
terested in everything that bade fair to further the wel-
fare of sightless people.

The Ziegler also started supplying special watches for
the blind at wholesale prices or less, and for many years
it has supplied typewriters and alarm clocks marked for
touch reading and other especially useful items at sub-
stantial discounts under the retail price, and has given
many hundreds of radios to blind people who could not
afford to buy them.

The whole atmosphere of the Ziegler magazine has
been one of practical, unpretentious, kindly service, avoid-
ing at all times anything that smacked of formality of
professional welfare work. Mr. Holmes scrupulously
avoided anything controversial. One time he did come
out with a blistering editorial denouncing a private
agency for the blind which, in his considered opinion
had opposed legislation on behalf of the blind, because it
feared the effect on the welfare of the organization,
though the legislation was well calculated to further the
interests of the blind of the state. No organization work-

116

PERIODICALS FOR THE BLIND

ing with blind people could afford many such attacks
from this source.

When Mr. Holmes died suddenly in 1946, the world
of the blind was plunged into deep sorrow at this loss.
The Ziegler magazine, however, has continued to appear
under the editorship of his successor, Howard M. Liechty,
mainly in the tradition established by its founder.

The desire of blind people to obtain news information
was recognized by a blind graduate of Perkins Institu-
tion, Francis B. Ierardi, who founded The Weekly News.
Already during the first world war when he noticed
that the blind were sensitive to relying on seeing people
for national and world news, Mr. Ierardi decided that
there was a need for a weekly braille newspaper. He
started its publication in 1927 with just enough money
to operate for three months, with a circulation of only
two hundred around Boston. Later he solicited money
from friends and today his "project" is the National
Braille Press in Boston, which is now housed in its own
modern four-story building. The organization is very
economically run by Mr. Ierardi, who was for many years
employed by the Massachusetts Division of the Blind as a
field worker. He has carried on the work of the National
Braille Press evenings and Sundays, purely as a labor of
love. He has always refused to accept any salary in spite
of the fact that his salary from the state and his other
personal resources are very modest.

The Weekly News gives little attention to develop-
ments in work for the blind, attempting mainly to supply
to blind people a summary of national and international
events from week to week. The editor has had the co-
operation of such inkprint magazines as The Independent
and The Outlook which have permitted their news sum-

117

AS I SAW IT

maries to be reproduced in braille, the cooperation even
extending to furnishing advance sheets to copy. Besides
The News, the National Braille Press publishes also Our
Special, a magazine for blind women, and The Home
Teacher, catering to home teachers for the blind. It also
does additional braille printing, including a number of
periodicals, on a contract basis.

The National Braille Press makes no charge to readers
of its magazines. Most of the cost of operating is met by-
annual contributions from all over the United States and
Canada. It has always managed to avoid a deficit in its
operations.

Blind people in general wish to read what is read by
sighted people and wish to be informed on subjects which
are discussed by them. Therefore, the braille and Talking
Book editions of the Reader's Digest are greatly appre-
ciated. The publication of the braille edition was origi-
nally undertaken in September, 1928 for the benefit of
the schools and classes for the blind. As the pupils grad-
uated from the schools, and as other adults became ac-
quainted with the magazine, the demand for copies for
libraries and individuals grew to overwhelming propor-
tions, and the general public was asked to provide funds
for this service through "The Reader's Digest Fund for
the Blind," which is sponsored jointly by the Reader's
Digest Association of Pleasantville, New York and the
American Printing House for the Blind of Louisville,
Kentucky. With the advent of the Talking Book, it be-
came possible to make a recorded edition available, and
the first issue appeared in September, 1939.

All copies of each edition are supplied free to the re-
cipients. Anyone donating as much as $15.50 can name
the recipient of a year's issues of the braille edition (com-

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PERIODICALS FOR THE BLIND

prising four volumes each month), while anyone donat-
ing as much as $32.50 can name the first recipient of a
year's issues of the Talking Book edition (twelve records
monthly) on condition that the records are forwarded
within a period of two weeks after receipt to the nearest
circulating library for the blind for redistribution to
other readers. Both issues are complete reprints of the
inkprint edition.

The production of the two editions now stands at over
three thousand monthly for the braille Digest and over
one thousand for the Talking Book.

The Braille Book Review which is now distributed
without charge to blind people using the libraries for the
blind, has filled an important need in enabling sightless
people to know what new books are available to them in
their libraries. It lists, each month, the new books pub-
lished in braille or on sound reproduction records issued
by the American presses. As a very small percentage of
blind library patrons ever visit their libraries themselves,
a publication of this kind is essential.

An advance number of the Braille Book Review was
published in October, 193 1. The first regular issue ap-
peared in January, 1932. From the beginning until 195 1
it was edited by Lucy A. Goldthwaite, who for many
years was librarian of the library for the blind of the
New York Public Library.

Originally, the magazine contained sixty-four pages
of braille with a subscription charge of fifty cents. The
periodical was started by the New York Public Library
in cooperation with the American Braille Press in Paris.
The size of the magazine was later reduced to twenty-
four pages and the subscription charge eliminated. In
1934 the Library of Congress extended financial aid by

119

AS I SAW IT

purchasing five hundred copies of the magazine and
sending them free to blind readers. Gradually the num-
ber was increased until The Library of Congress now
meets the printing cost of the entire edition going to
United States readers. In 1942 the American Foundation
for the Blind assumed responsibility for the editing of
this publication employing Miss Goldthwaite on a part-
time basis for this purpose. She continued with the maga-
zine until June 30, 1951, after which time it has been
edited by the Foundation library.

It should be mentioned that there are a considerable
number of religious magazines for the blind, some of them
dating back to the days before the Ziegler. They are
sponsored by special religious organizations, Catholic,
Protestant and Jewish. The oldest of these magazines in
point of continuous operation is the Christian Record
established in 1900, and sponsored by the Seventh Day
Adventists. While it has a certain Adventist tone, it
contains articles of general interest. It was started by
blind people and has always employed a rather large pro-
portion of sightless people in its production. The Record
is maintained by personal door-to-door solicitation.

Religious magazines for the blind as a rule carry no
subscription fees. The writer believes that if a small fee
was charged for them, one would know better just how
many blind people read them.

As work for the blind began to come of age in this
country, periodicals began to appear which were in-
tended to inform the worker for the blind of matters per-
tinent to his work. These periodicals were first published
in inkprint only although at the present time it is recog-
nized that braille editions of professional magazines should
also be made available.

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PERIODICALS FOR THE BLIND

The pioneer in this group was The Mentor which was
started in 189 1 as a monthly publication by the Alumni
Association of Perkins Institution. It was edited by a blind
man by the name of Joel W. Smith, father of American
braille, who was then teacher of piano tuning at Perkins.
The Mentor was designed to disseminate information re-
garding the needs of blind people and how to meet them.
It was an interesting publication, but suspended after four
years of operation for lack of financial support.

Some years later, in 1900, The Problem appeared as the
official organ of the American Blind People's Higher
Education and General Improvement Association. It was
published and edited as a quarterly by Wallace McGill,
a blind man who was Professor of Musical Theory and
Psychology at the Kansas Conservatory of Music in
Leavenworth. In the four years of its existence, The
Problem published in its pages articles on legislation for
the blind and on other subjects of interest to a group of
young and vigorous blind people. It also printed the offi-
cial proceedings of the American Blind People's Higher
Education and General Improvement Association, the
association which in 1905 became the American Associa-
tion of Workers for the Blind. The last issue appeared
in October 1903.

No other magazine carrying news of work for the
blind existed until the establishment of the Outlook for
the Blind, founded by Charles F. F. Campbell in the
spring of 1907. This magazine was temporarily sponsored
by the Massachusetts Association for Promoting the In-
terests of the Blind, with the understanding that Mr.
Campbell would, as soon as possible, obtain other sources
of support. For many years the association gave this
magazine its blessing in one way or another, but the main

12 I

AS I SAW IT

burden of finding financial support was shouldered by
Mr. Campbell until the American Foundation for the
Blind took it over in 1923.

The editing of this publication was a labor of love
performed by Mr. Campbell and his wife for sixteen
years. During this time Mr. Campbell labored evenings,
Sundays and holidays to get this quarterly magazine out.
It was only with the greatest of effort that he was able
to raise the money to meet the printers' bills. For a while
he carried local advertisements to help out financially, but
when the American Foundation for the Blind took it
over, the advertising pages were eliminated as being in-
consistent in tone with the professional nature of the
publication.

The Outlook for the Blind carried news of work for
the blind throughout the world, and served as a medium
through which anyone interested in work for the blind
might bring his views before the public. Mr. Campbell
saw to it that every new development in efforts to im-
prove the condition of the sightless was properly pre-
sented so that others interested might be informed.

The Outlook converted work for the blind from local
sporadic attempts to improve the lot of sightless people in
scattered communities into a national movement on be-
half of those without sight. It avoided controversial topics
so far as practicable but never hesitated to take a stand
for or against certain ideas if it seemed necessary. Through
its columns Mr. Campbell had a tremendous influence on
the thinking of friends of the blind throughout the coun-
try.

Probably every movement to improve the lot of blind
people owes a debt of gratitude to the Outlook and to
Mr. Campbell personally for his support. Mr. Campbell

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PERIODICALS FOR THE BLIND

never touched any phase of work for the blind that he
did not contribute some practical idea of lasting benefit.
Something of a firebrand himself when it came to com-
bating undue conservatism, he allowed little of this con-
troversial tone to creep into his magazine. No one will
ever realize how much of his strength and zeal he gave
to this publication, for which he never received a dollar
of salary. When the American Foundation for the Blind
was organized, he personally requested it to take over
the burden of financing and publishing the journal. In
justice he should have been employed as its editor. For
various reasons that was not done. Conspicuous among
these reasons was the fact that though his magazine had
always been kept free from violent controversy, he had
himself, in his zeal for the welfare of the blind, made many
enemies. It seemed to the board of trustees of the Founda-
tion unwise for the new organization to incur the wrath
of certain of his enemies by adding him to its small staff.
The Outlook for the Blind has had several editors since
it was taken over by the Foundation, Charles B. Hayes,
Evelyn C. McKay, Lucy A. Goldthwaite, Enid Griffis
Warren Bledsoe, P. C. Potts and, at present, Howard B.
Liechty who is also the editor of the Matilda Ziegler
Magazine for the Blind. In 1942 it was merged with
Teachers Forum for Instructors of Blind Children. It is
now also published in braille, the first issue appearing in
September, 193 1. Since 1943 ^ has appeared monthly
except during July and August.

123

EDUCATION
OF THE BLIND

Dr. Irwin was supervisor of classes for the blind in the
public schools of Cleveland, Ohio from 1909-1923, and part
of that time supervisor of classes for the blind and for the
partially sighted for various cities in Ohio. His closeness to
the early movement of establishing day school classes for
the blind enabled him to trace the history of this movement
from the time when Dr. Howe first gave word to the idea
in his speech at Batavia in 1866. We are grateful to Dr. Irwin
for this history. We wish he had had time to write also
about the develop?nent of the residential schools for the
blind over the same period.

Blind children require for their education the application
of special teaching methods as well as special equipment.
Books in embossed type and Talking Books are needed as
well as slates for writing braille, special devices for mathe-
matics, embossed maps for geography, and other similar
tools. Dr. Irwin has given us the story of the development
of these special tools as well as comments on special teaching
methods. It is of interest to note that since Dr. Irwin's death
the authorized appropriation to the American Printing
House for the Blind has been raised to the total of $260,000.
The actual appropriation however, has always been some-
what less than this amount.

Higher education of the blind is another subject close to
the heart of educators of the blind and was especially so in
the early part of the twentieth century. It is interesting to
see the changing philosophy from that of encouraging spe-
cial colleges or advanced schools for the blind to that of
having the blind student take his chances in regular colleges
and universities in competition with seeing students.

n i 8 3 2 when the first schools for the blind

B^^ in the United States were opened, board-
^^ ing schools were considered the most de-
^^ sirable establishment in which a boy or
^^ girl could receive his education. Of course,
we had day schools for seeing children in
every part of the country but the privileged groups at-
tended boarding schools for at least part of their school
life. It was only natural, therefore, for those setting up
schools for the blind to have copied the boarding school
plan for the blind which they had observed in Europe.

The boarding schools also offered more opportunities
for careful training and for experimentation in this new
field of endeavor. By the i86o's, however, some of the
educators of the blind in this country had begun to real-
ize certain disadvantages in quartering sightless children
for most of each year in a boarding school where prac-
tically all of their social experience was with children
with a similar handicap.

In 1 866 Dr. Samuel Gridley Howe, the first director
of Perkins Institution, in his address at the laying of the
cornerstone of the New York State School for the Blind
at Batavia, said, "All great establishments in the nature of
boarding schools, where the sexes must be separated;
where there must be boarding in common, and sleeping
in congregate dormitories; where there must be routine,
and formality, and restraint, and repression of individual-
ity; where the charms and refining influences of the true

127

AS I SAW IT

family relation cannot be had — all such institutions are
unnatural, undesirable, and very liable to abuse. We
should have as few of them as is possible, and those few
should be kept as small as possible."

In 187 1, in a paper submitted to the American Associa-
tion of Instructors of the Blind, he said, "With a view of
lessening all differences between blind and seeing children,
I would have the blind attend the common schools in
all cases where it is feasible. . . . Depend upon it, one of
the future reforms in the education of the blind will be
to send blind children to the common schools, to be
taught with common children in all those branches not
absolutely requiring visible illustrations, as spelling, pro-
nunciation, grammar, arithmetic, vocal music and the
like. We shall avail ourselves of the special institutions
less, and the common schools more."

It was not until 1900, however, that any formal steps
were taken to make provision for blind children in the
public schools in any city. Scattered instances of blind
children attending public schools prior to that date could
doubtless be found.

In the late 1890's there was considerable agitation in
the city of Chicago to get the Board of Education to set
up an institution for the blind in the city so that sightless
boys and girls in Chicago should not be compelled to go
several hundred miles away to the Illinois School for the
Blind in Jacksonville for their education.

Those promoting the establishment of such a school for
the blind naturally thought of a segregated school some-
what like the state schools in existence. Frank H. Hall,
then superintendent of the Illinois School for the Blind,
who had a high standing in the state as an educator, went
to Chicago several times to persuade educational authori-

128

EDUCATION OF THE BLIND

ties of the city not to set up a special institution, but rather
to open the regular classes in the school buildings to blind
children making only such special provisions for them as
was necessary to enable them to carry on their work. Mr.
Hall felt that through such a plan the boys and girls
could grow up in contact and competition with the young
people who in the future would be those with whom they
would live and work. In a statement made to the com-
mittee of the Board of Education of the City of New
York, March 24, 1909, he said, "Three cities have inaug-
urated the wise plan of teaching blind children in classes
in the public school. I think the method of segregating
the blind, keeping them together for twelve years, as they
do in some schools, letting them forget their homes, keep-
ing them not with the class with whom they will live
after they leave school, cutting them off from society, is
the greatest mistake that was ever made. The public
school is the place to educate a blind boy, associating
him with the people with whom he will associate when
he leaves school."

John B. Curtis, a blind graduate of the Illinois School
for the Blind and later a teacher in that institution, was
employed as the first supervisor of classes for the blind
in the public schools of Chicago. The plan which he
evolved for handling this work has been copied by many
other cities. It was to divide the city geographically into
several large districts setting aside a room for blind chil-
dren in some conveniently located building in each of
these districts. The teachers placed in charge of these
home rooms not only taught the pupils to read braille,
the use of the typewriter, etc., but also watched their
charges to see to it that they got full advantage of the
education offered.

129

AS I SAW IT

The pupils in Chicago did most of their work in the
regular grade rooms, somewhat more so even than is
done in most other day school classes. Mr. Curtis gave
much personal attention to individual pupils in the gram-
mar and high school grades, contributing greatly to the
success of his students both while in school and in later
life. He was one of the most devoted and admirable
characters the education of the blind has produced in the
United States. Sincerity, modesty, devotion and good
judgment were his outstanding characteristics.

He was interested in every phase of work for the blind,
especially those having an academic aspect. He was a
valuable member of the Uniform Type Committee in its
early days and later of the International Committee on
Braille Mathematical Notation. For many years he did
the final proofreading of books on mathematics and ad-
vanced science of all kinds for the American Printing
House for the Blind. The high standard which he set
for the practical application of the Taylor braille mathe-
matical and chemical notation long had a profound in-
fluence on the correctness of books prepared for high
school and college students in this country. He never
sought personal honors but the manifest joy and satis-
faction which he derived when the American Founda-
tion for the Blind awarded him the Migel Medal for Out-
standing Service to the Blind in June, 1945 made every-
one realize how much quiet pleasure he got from recog-
nition of the services which he performed in an unosten-
tatious way.

In 1905 Cincinnati followed Chicago in establishing
day school classes for the blind. Unfortunately, the Cin-
cinnati school segregated its pupils in a special building.
This arrangement sacrificed those advantages to blind

130

EDUCATION OF THE BLIND

children which grow out of mingling and competing
in school with seeing boys and girls of their own age. In
1907 Miss Carrie B. Levy, one of the teachers in the Chi-
cago classes for the blind, was instrumental in organizing
classes for the blind in Milwaukee. In 1909 Cleveland
and New York opened day school classes, all following
the plan of sending the pupils into the regular classes for
seeing children for as much of their work as seemed
practicable. In 191 3 Cincinnati reorganized its classes
and adopted the coeducational plan of training blind and
seeing children together.

Minneapolis and St. Paul followed in 19 19. Seattle
opened a class in 1920 following the cooperative plan.
Later it adopted the plan of segregating its blind, and
largely as a result of this the children forsook the Seattle
classes and went to the state institution. Since the public
schools lacked much of the special equipment to be
found at the state school at Vancouver, the parents de-
cided that when the coeducational plan was abandoned
much of the advantages of having the children attend
the public schools had been forfeited.

In 191 7 Los Angeles opened classes for blind children
but soon segregated its pupils in a day school where they
had little or no contact with seeing boys and girls except
in their own homes.

In most cities where provision for the education of
blind children has been made, sightless pupils in the high
school grades attend the regular high school with no
special room set aside for their use. Readers and special
tutors are usually provided to read aloud books that are
not available in braille or as Talking Books, and also to
assist the students in such subjects as foreign languages
and mathematics. The day school plan where there is not

131

AS I SAW IT

close cooperation with the residential schools of the state
has certain shortcomings. Many day schools do not pro-
vide special musical instruction or adequate manual or
prevocational training.

The city of Cleveland has gone further than any other
city to make good these lacks. The musical instruction
is comparable to that afforded in a residential school. Pu-
pils are assisted to take part in the manual training and
prevocational training classes offered in the junior and
senior high schools for the benefit of other boys and girls.
At one time Cleveland conducted a training cottage for
its boys and another for its girls where the pupils lived
three or four days out of every week for a year or more
so that they might receive training in table manners and
other social niceties, and where the boys might learn to
hold up their end of the household responsibilities such
as shoveling snow from the sidewalks, stoking the fur-
nace, etc., and where the girls might learn to make beds,
cook their meals, set and serve the dining room table,
sweep the floors, and the like;

Unfortunately, Cleveland discontinued these cottages
a good many years ago on grounds of economy. This
curtailment of the department for the blind was carried
out by the Board of Education in spite of the fact that
even with the training cottages the average per capita cost
to the taxpayer of educating blind children was sub-
stantially less than educating them in the state residential
school. However, the training cottages were in operation
for several years, a sufficient period to demonstrate their
value and the practicability of the plan.

There was once operated in Detroit at private expense
a training cottage for blind girls but the Board of Edu-
cation never saw its way clear to assume the entire cost

132

EDUCATION OF THE BLIND

of this adjunct to the department of the blind. Accord-
ingly, the cottage was eventually closed.

The danger inherent in day schools for the blind is
lack of special supervision. Their success will not be in-
sured unless they are in the charge of a specialist who can
give his full time to supervising the teachers and planning
for the training of each individual blind pupil. Too often
the department for the blind, because it cares for only a
small number, is made the responsibility of the supervisor
of special classes in general and this supervisor seldom has
much knowledge or special interest in the education of
the blind.

Few cities have attempted to provide educational fa-
cilities for all of their blind children because it is felt
that where the home doesn't afford wise parental co-
operation it is better for the pupils to attend the residen-
tial school of the state. In the early years of the day
school movement residential school managers were much
perturbed over the spread of the day school program.
It was feared that the plan might in some way actually
supplant the residential school. However, this has never
happened and in Oregon, Washington and California the
superintendents of the schools for the blind have taken
the initiative in placing blind children in the public schools
for part of their work.

Nearly a third of the institutions for the blind make
some use of public school classes. The plan is still in its
formative stages but it is becoming obvious that ulti-
mately most states will evolve some plan by which there
will be close cooperation between the residential schools
for the blind and the public school system. In such a pro-
gram the state school becomes the center of an educa-
tional service for the state rather than the sole instru-

133

AS I SAW IT

mentality for the instruction of blind children. In such
a program the superintendent of the school for the blind
inspires and supervises the training of blind children of
preschool age in their homes, and arranges for the in-
struction of the blind children of the state under con-
ditions most advantageous to each individual.

Where the cities make adequate provision, as in some
places in Ohio, blind residents of those cities may spend
most all of their school years in the public school classes.
In other states, where elaborate provision has not been
made for blind pupils, the institution often enrolls the
blind children for preliminary training and gradually
works them into the public school classes, either in the
neighborhood of the residential schools or in their own
home communities.

It is difficult to trace any consistent development of
classroom teaching methods in the United States. Many
of the schools have been isolated one from another and
have therefore been slow to learn of successful methods
in other places. The great majority of teachers in the
schools for the blind have not been especially trained for
their work. During the first twenty-five years of the
century superintendents seemed to feel that almost any-
one could teach blind children. Some of the schools
which are justly proud today of their educational stand-
ards, a quarter of a century ago did not hesitate to place
entirely untrained graduates in charge of classes for the
blind who taught by methods by which untrained teach-
ers before them had taught them. Some of these schools,
in cases of emergency, would draw from their dining
room staffs of waitresses to take charge of third and fourth
grade classes. On the other hand, other schools as far
back as the first decade of the century had on their facul-

134

EDUCATION OF THE BLIND

ties many normal school graduates who were success-
fully adapting teaching methods for seeing children to
the requirements of blind children.

Reading by word form, which some of the best teach-
ers today are introducing as an innovation, was the sub-
ject of a heated discussion at the 19 10 Little Rock con-
vention of the American Association of Instructors of
the Blind. Prominent superintendents listened with skep-
ticism to a young teacher from Utah who told of teach-
ing braille by word form. Only in recent years has there
been any consistent progress which could be said to be
a national trend in teaching methods especially adapted
to the blind. Younger teachers are now for the most
part drawn from teachers' colleges and follow pretty
closely the educational trends of the public schools.

It can be said, however, that there has been progress
made in the use of certain special appliances. It was early
recognized by educators of the blind that special meas-
ures must be taken to ensure the schools the special
equipment needed for the education of blind children,
such as braille slates, mathematical devices, and others.
Only with assistance from the Federal Government
could this need be met. Therefore, the history of the
efforts to secure such assistance coincides with the history
of the American Printing House for the Blind.

The Printing House was organized as a Kentucky
corporation, not for profit, in 1858. It was to be main-
tained by a special tax passed by the Kentucky legislature
which made available five dollars annually for each blind
resident of the state. Several books were printed at this
establishment which at first was housed in the basement
of the Kentucky School for the Blind.

In 1876 the American Association of Instructors of

135

AS I SAW IT

the Blind set up a committee to work out a plan for
national cooperation. It was hoped that other states
would join with Kentucky in maintaining a printing
house for the blind. The exigencies of the Civil War and
the years that followed, however, soon made it apparent
that while some money could be raised in different states
from private contributions, little could be accomplished
with joint state action. The Kentucky establishment was
not alone, as small printing plants had long been main-
tained at Perkins Institution, the New York Institution
for the Blind, the Pennsylvania Institution for the In-
struction of the Blind, and by the Virginia School for
the Blind. But joint action was not forthcoming.

In 1879 a bill passed Congress making available to the
American Printing House for the Blind the interest from
$250,000 worth of United States bonds which were to
mature in forty years. The income from these bonds
was turned over to the Printing House with the under-
standing that it would revise its charter so that in addi-
tion to the seven citizens of Louisville who were to act
as trustees and managing executive committee, the super-
intendents of every public institution for the education
of the blind would be ex officio members of the govern-
ing board.

The Printing House started in a very small way. In
1880 there were six or eight employees. In 1950 the staff
had grown to two hundred full-time employees and fifty
part-time workers. It has on its board several subcom-
mittees, most important of which are the executive
committee consisting of the local Louisville citizens, and
the printing committee which selects the books to be
embossed.

The first superintendent of the American Printing

136

EDUCATION OF THE BLIND

House for the Blind was Benjamin B. Huntoon who was
also superintendent of the Kentucky School for the
Blind. Mr. Huntoon was extremely interested in the
production of embossed books and devoted much of his
time and genius to perfecting not only books in tangible
type but also to improving and manufacturing tangible
type slates, mathematical appliances and maps. Large
dissected maps carved from laminated wood were the
pride of the institution. Mr. Huntoon carved many of
these maps with his own hands. This was a tedious job
but the product was not only a superb educational ap-
pliance to those who must depend upon their fingers for
their concepts, but also had much eye appeal. To the
present day Mr. Huntoon has had five, successors as
superintendents of the Printing House. They have all
been called from the ranks of superintendents of schools
for the blind.

In 1906, anticipating that the original forty-year bonds
would soon mature, Congress changed the authorization
by continuing an annual appropriation of $10,000. In
1919 an additional appropriation of $40,000 was author-
ized. In 1927 this appropriation was raised to $65,000
and in 1937 to $1 15,000. Money derived from these gov-
ernment grants was used for the manufacture of books
and tangible apparatus which is distributed annually
among the schools for the blind in proportion to the
ratio which enrollment of any one school bears to the
total blind child enrollment for all schools in the coun-
try. For example, if $50,000 was available for the manu-
facture of books and tangible apparatus and if there
were 5,000 pupils in the schools for the blind, each school
was entitled to draw from the Printing House for books
and other educational paraphernalia to the amount of

137

AS I SAW IT

$10 per child. The quota of the schools is calculated
every year from the enrollment that is sent in to Louis-
ville in January. A school may either buy books and ap-
paratus already in stock at the Printing House or it may
use its quota in meeting the cost of producing entirely
new books or apparatus so long as the bulk of the manu-
facturing process is done at the Printing House. It can-
not, however, buy with its allotment books, braille-
writers, or other equipment manufactured outside of the
Printing House.

When the original law was passed establishing the
American Printing House, "public institutions for the
education of the blind" consisted solely of residential
schools. Following the establishment of the first day
school classes in city public schools in 1900, a need for
a broader interpretation of the Act became apparent.
On January 30, 191 2, an opinion was handed down by
the Department of the Treasury (under which Depart-
ment the Act was then administered), in response to a
request from the public day schools for the blind of
Milwaukee, Wisconsin, stating that these classes were
entitled to share in the free distribution of materials
under the Act. This ruling was extended to cover the
classes for the blind in public schools throughout the
country, and the superintendent of each school system
conducting such classes for the blind is an ex officio
trustee of the American Printing House for the Blind.

With the advent of the Talking Book the Printing
House turned its attention to the manufacure of this new
appliance and by 1936 it was equipped to produce such
books for distribution to the schools. Many of the Talk-
ing Books purchased by the Library of Congress are
suitable for school use and many others are suitable for

138

EDUCATION OF THE BLIND

use by school pupils for supplementary reading. The
Printing House, therefore, obtained substantial orders
from the Library of Congress so that it could keep its
Talking Book department operating at capacity and at
the same time build up masters from which records could
be pressed for distribution to the schools on their gov-
ernment quotas.

In order to benefit from the economies of quantity
production the Printing House has manufactured other
books and apparatus on contract for other private and
public agencies. As early as 1887 it embossed the Bible
for the American Bible Society and since 1883, other
religious literature for the Society for Providing Evan-
gelical Religious Literature for the Blind. Gradually, it
took on the publication of magazines on a contract basis
until today it produces over fifty braille and three Talk-
ing Book magazines.

The first decade of the century witnessed a general
awakening in the schools for the blind to the importance
of physical education. Dr. Howe of Perkins Institution
several decades earlier had given a great deal of attention
to the physical development of his pupils. He stressed
its importance in his annual reports, but most of the
schools for the blind attached little significance to that
aspect of a blind child's education.

In about 1899 Edward E. Allen of the Pennsylvania
Institution for the Instruction of the Blind was able to
get his school moved from the cramped quarters on Race
Street in Philadelphia to a roomy campus in Overbrook,
a suburb of Philadelphia. Mr. Allen had served for sev-
eral years as a teacher of physical education and other
subjects at the Royal Normal College in London. Sir
Francis Campbell, the superintendent, was a great be-

139

AS I SAW IT

liever in the moral and health values of developing to the
uttermost the physiques of his blind students. Mr. Allen
introduced many of his methods at Overbrook and gave
them great publicity, especially among the schools for
the blind of the United States.

An athletic team was developed in the school which
competed successfully against many of the schools for
seeing children in Philadelphia and vicinity. His interest
found kindred spirits in the schools for the blind in
Kentucky, New Mexico, Western Pennsylvania, and in
other places. Athletic teams were developed whose prow-
ess won local recognition. It was extremely difficult to
bring these teams together in order to compete directly
with one another but a plan was devised for holding an
athletic match in several different schools on the same
day. The records made by the athletes in these different
schools were wired to the other schools and in this way
a national track meet with each pupil competing on his
own athletic field many hundreds of miles away was
carried on. This stimulated a great interest in physical
education. Later, track teams of blind athletes from
Philadelphia, Baltimore, New York City, Batavia, Pitts-
burgh and other schools met and actually competed on
the same athletic field. Plans for new school buildings
provided for special gymnasiums adapted for the use of
blind children and today the physical appearance of the
pupils in the schools for the blind is far superior to that
of a half century ago.

When the blind children have completed high school
work or when they have reached working age and high
school training does not seem indicated, the school
authorities should plan and supervise their further in-
struction, In some cases the young blind are encouraged

140

EDUCATION OF THE BLIND

to attend a university, in other cases they are assigned
to the state vocational rehabilitation department for vo-
cational training and placement.

Individual blind people of special ability, whether with
or without tutors, have managed to make their way
through institutions of higher learning. In the late i 8oo's
a movement was on foot, originating in the state of Mis-
souri, to establish a special college for the blind or special
national scholarships for blind college students so that
they might be helped to attend the university of their
choice. This movement never found much favor, how-
ever, because experience had already shown that when
a blind college student is provided with an adequate
reading service and where the college authorities are
willing to make reasonable adaptations of courses involv-
ing laboratory work, etc., the blind student does very
well and manages to keep pace with his seeing associates.

This broadens the educational opportunities for blind
people far beyond anything that would likely be offered
by a special college for the blind. Furthermore, no col-
lege for the blind would ever win the prestige of a large
university. A degree from a college for the blind would
probably mean very little to the blind man seeking a job
where college training is a prerequisite.

An effort was also made by blind people during the
last decade of the nineteenth century and the first decade
of the twentieth century to obtain federal government
scholarships for the blind. This effort failed, however,
because of the opposition of prominent superintendents
of schools for the blind who seemed to feel that such
scholarships were unnecessary or undesirable.

As a new approach to the subject Newell Perry, a
graduate of the California School for the Blind and a

141

AS I SAW IT

student at Columbia University, was responsible for get-
ting the state of New York, in 1907, to set up reading
scholarships for blind college students. These scholar-
ships, administered by the State Board of Regents, pro-
vided blind people with an annual allowance for meeting
the cost of reading service in the colleges and universities
of the state and under certain conditions outside of the
state. The annual allowance to a student for this purpose
was only $300.00 in the beginning but this has gradually
been increased over the years until in 1950 it was
$500.00. Other states have copied this provision in one
form or another until eighteen states now have such
scholarships ranging from $200.00 to $900.00 maximum
annual allowance. In some states it is for meeting the
cost of readers only, in others it is for meeting the cost
of readers plus living expenses. In some states the scholar-
ship is only allowed a student attending a university pro-
viding the university admits him free of tuition charges.
Most universities cooperate with blind students after the
management understands that they are usually able to
do the work required of seeing students without unrea-
sonable special concessions.

Most professional schools are open to the blind. As a
result a goodly number of blind people have attained
success in the profession of law, in teaching, as ministers
of the Gospel, etc. Some professional fields have offered
special difficulties. At one time schools of osteopathy
were especially sympathetic to blind students, but unfor-
tunately the opposition of examining boards in certain
states gradually closed such schools to the blind. The
Board of Regents in New York and the examining board
in Pennsylvania even refused to recognize a degree for
anyone graduating from a school of osteopathy which

142

EDUCATION OF THE BLIND

permitted a blind person to graduate. The opposition of
these boards was usually due to the prejudice of some
outstanding person on the board who did not believe
that a blind person could successfully practice osteopa-
thy. As the schools of osteopathy are private establish-
ments and in no position to fight the examining boards
or boards of regents, they succumbed to this opposition.
One school of osteopathy after another was closed to the
blind until today there is practically no opportunity for
blind people to equip themselves to practice the profes-
sion even though some of these schools for many years
have had blind people on their faculties.

Blind people have also had much difficulty in obtain-
ing training as physiotherapists. This has been largely
due to the opposition of the physiotherapists' association.
Had it not been for the strong public opinion behind
certain blind veterans, all schools of physiotherapy would
probably have followed the examples of the schools of
osteopathy and closed their doors to the blind. In Great
Britain the National Institute for the Blind has established
a school of physiotherapy offering an excellent three-
year training course. The faculty of this school contains
some of the leading physicians of London and unlike
the situation in the United States, blind physiotherapists
in Great Britain stand well with the medical profession.

H3

^v

EARNING A LIVING

WITHOUT BENEFIT

OF SIGHT

The history of planned and organized work to provide
employment for the adult blind belongs in the twentieth
century. Although Dr. Irwin's training had been mainly
that of an educator's, his years as Executive Director of the
American Foundation for the Blind brought him in close
touch with all movements aimed at increasing the vocational
opportunities of the blind. Foremost among these movements
were the efforts made by friends of the blind to obtain
legislation which would provide vocational training and also
would create new possibilities for employment. Dr. Irwin
took an active part in all such efforts. His experiences with
the lawmakers in Washington were arduous, long and ex-
hausting, sometimes hilarious, but always exciting.

rom some standpoints, modern work for
the adult blind in the United States began
the day the Dennison Manufacturing Com-
pany employed a blind box corner-cutter.
Doubtless individual blind people before
had obtained jobs for themselves in regu-
lar factories, performing processes for which the factory
management was accustomed to hiring seeing people,
but as far as the author knows this was the first job of
its kind obtained by a representative of an organization
for the blind.

Scattered instances of this kind do not make the be-
ginning of a movement, but when that movement uses
this particular job or particular incident as a precedent
upon which it builds future developments, then it may
be said that the work stemmed from that event.

Mr. Charles F. F. Campbell had in mind when he
persuaded the Dennison Manufacturing Company to hire
this blind box corner-cutter not only finding men a
chance to earn a living in a normal way, but he also con-
sidered this experiment a demonstration of what could
be done for the blind with the cooperation of under-
standing employers. Photographs were taken and lantern
slides made and shown all over the state of Massachusetts.
As a matter of fact, they were shown all over the coun-
try as a part of an educational program designed to
familiarize the public with the idea that blind people

H7

AS I SAW IT

could fill useful places in the industrial life of any-
community.

This form of employment of the blind, however, did
not become popular until the demands upon the labor
supply of the country during the first world war made
employers willing to consider blind people as poten-
tial sources of labor. The management of the Crocker
Wheeler Company of Newark, New Jersey became en-
thusiastic over the idea and not only offered to employ
blind workmen but set up a regular department for
facilitating this experiment. This department was known
as the "Double-Duty Finger Guild." At one time over
one hundred blind employees were at work in the fac-
tory. The management was so enthusiastic over the re-
sults that the officials lost no opportunity to discuss the
subject publicly at meetings where the management of
various other companies was represented.

However, after the war was over and the shortage of
labor ceased to exist and it became necessary for the
company to reduce its force, blind people were gradu-
ally dropped along with others. This was accentuated
when Mr. Wheeler died. The company has always em-
ployed a few blind people since that time, though the
number has dwindled to less than a half dozen.

Other concerns which were conspicuous for employ-
ing blind people were the Ford Motor Company and the
National Cash Register Company. Henry Ford was
especially proud of his employment of blind and partially
blind people. He paid them the regular minimum wage
that he paid the rank and file of seeing people. In 1944
he was awarded the Migel Medal for Outstanding Serv-
ice to the Blind not only because of the number of blind

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EARNING A LIVING

people he had employed, but because of the example he
had set other employers.

Many other companies, too numerous to mention, have
employed blind people more or less regularly. However,
placement agents have questioned the wisdom of locating
more than two or three blind employees in any one fac-
tory. If the number is kept small, adjustments can be
readily made when processes change or when the de-
mand for labor fluctuates. After the second world war
the Radio Corporation of America adopted the policy
of employing one blind person for each thousand of its
employees. Another manufacturing concern which ac-
quired some local reputation for employing blind people
was the Upson Nut Company, of Cleveland, Ohio. In
this plant certain processes were set aside to be done by
blind people when they were available. One of these
processes was testing the threads in nuts and bolts. The
testing process consisted of screwing a nut onto a bolt
and packing them in boxes.

In most instances, blind people were seldom employed
by any company except upon the intercession, or at least
the guidance, of a placement agent in the employment
of an organization for the blind. However, the Upson
Nut Company became so well known as an employer of
the blind that blind people arriving in town and wanting
a job would often head directly for the company, line
up in the employment office, and get a job without any
intercession by a social worker. This ability to find a job
without having to apply to a philanthropic concern was
a source of great gratification to many independently-
minded sightless men.

Though Charles F. F. Campbell, for several years ex-

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AS I SAW IT

ecutive head of the Massachusetts Commission for the
Blind, seems to have been the first to conceive and put
into operation the placement of blind people in regular
factories, side by side with the seeing, some of his fel-
low workers for the blind were pessimistic about the
future of this method of employment. Miss Florence
Birchard, his successor in placement work with the com-
mission, followed Mr. Campbell in finding employment
for many blind individuals in factories with seeing people
and in other kinds of jobs not usually considered avail-
able as outlets for blind labor, such as domestic service.
Charles W. Holmes, a fellow member of the staff of the
Massachusetts Commission for the Blind, however, felt
that some workers for the blind had become too optimis-
tic about factory employment as an opening for blind
labor, and he issued a rather pessimistic report on the
subject in 1919.

Later, a new man came into the picture, who had
unbounded faith in the opportunities which the regular
factory held for blind people. He was so enthusiastic
upon the subject and such a good salesman of blind
workmen that one foreman said that to hear Mr. Clunk
talk you would almost believe that blindness was an asset
in a factory worker. When Joseph F. Clunk became
Chief of the Services for the Blind in the Federal Office
of Vocational Rehabilitation, he not only had the oppor-
tunity to demonstrate personally his ability to place blind
people in factories, but also had a chance to train many
placement agents in the technique of finding locations
for sightless workmen.

In addition to the movement to place blind people in
regular factories doing certain kinds of repetitive work
requiring little or no training, efforts were made to place

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EARNING A LIVING

blind people in offices on clerical jobs usually performed
by seeing people. The Dictaphone, Ediphone, and simi-
lar dictating machines have given many blind women,
and some men, an opportunity to earn their daily bread.
They have been trained for such clerical work, some-
times by associations and schools for the blind, sometimes
in regular business colleges cooperating with agencies
for the blind. Many of these blind men and women
have been extremely successful. Montgomery Ward &
Company has employed one or more blind women for
twenty-five years or more, and hundreds of blind Dicta-
phone operators have found very satisfactory jobs not
only in commercial concerns but in state and federal
offices.

However, the placement of blind people in commer-
cial and manufacturing concerns has not removed the
necessity of the special workshop for the blind. Special
workshops were established in the United States as far
back as 1841. In the last decade of the nineteenth cen-
tury and the first decade of the twentieth quite a wave
of establishing employment institutions for the blind
spread over the country. These institutions were com-
bination workshops, vocational schools and boarding-
houses. They were usually maintained by the state and
at state expense. Board was provided either free or at a
very low rate. Wages were ordinarily low. The institu-
tions usually showed a substantial deficit at the end of
the year, which was made up from state appropriations.
In some instances those entering the institutions came
with the understanding that they would remain for only
two or three years, while they were learning their trades.
But when the training period was over, their home con-
nection had often been broken and there was no place

151

AS I SAW IT

for them to go except to the county poor farms. Often
they were permitted to remain in the institution for many
years, so that it became difficult eventually to say
whether the institution was a training school, a working
home, or just a refuge for aged blind people.

During the first decade of the twentieth century
questions began to be raised as to the wisdom of having
a boardinghouse feature connected with the special em-
ployment establishments for the blind. In certain places
like Perkins Institution, day workshops had been con-
ducted for half a century but for the most part the board-
inghouse feature was an integral part of the plan. Men
like Charles W. Holmes, Eben P. Morford and others
began urging the establishment, on at least a trial basis,
of special day workshops where blind people could live
in their own homes, or board in private families, and
come to work in the special shop for the blind just as
their seeing friends might go to work each day in a regu-
lar industrial establishment. The objectionable character-
istics of the boardinghouse feature became so conspicu-
ous that such institutions have ceased to be established
in this country. Some institutions have retained the
boardinghouse for a few of their older employees, or
as a rehabilitation center where newly blinded men and
women can be helped with their adjustment to the lack
of sight. The best workshop managers scrutinize their
boardinghouse departments with the greatest of care, to
see that they do not become permanent residences if it is
possible to make other arrangements.

In addition to the blind who are working in factories
with the seeing and in special workshops, there are thou-
sands of blind people — no one knows how many — who
have found jobs for themselves in regular factories, or

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EARNING A LIVING

who have set up independent business establishments.
Probably blind people have operated small stores and
other business ventures for centuries. Certainly during
the present century hundreds of blind men, and some
blind women, have set up small shops of one kind or
another. Many of them employ seeing people to do
much of the work, the blind men supplying the capital
and business management. One elderly blind man who
had been very successful in business once said to the
author, "Sight is the cheapest thing in the world, it's
brains that cost money." If the blind man has the brains
and a little money, and the right kind of special abilities,
he may find plenty of precedents for operating banks,
loan agencies, grocery stores, taverns, book stores, music
stores, phonograph record stores, newspapers, yacht
building yards, trucking businesses, restaurants, hotels,
etc.

However, it is the special workshop which forms the
most characteristic opportunity for the average blind
man or woman to earn his living. These workshops are
usually organized as corporations not for profit. In a few
instances, workshops have been set up as profit ventures
by persons interested in the blind, the management hop-
ing to employ a majority of seeing workmen. These men
have worked on the theory that they could make suffici-
ent profit from the product of seeing labor to offset any
possible loss on their blind employees. These factories
have seldom, if ever, been a success. Sometimes they have
fallen into ill repute by employing a minimum of blind
people though making an appeal to the public for pa-
tronage on the grounds that they were employing the
blind.

The special workshop operating frankly not for profit

153

AS I SAW IT

usually selects its employees from among those who for
some reason cannot be satisfactorily placed in industry.
Either there is no factory in the community which can
or is willing to absorb this labor or, which is quite as
often the case, the special workshop employs blind
people whose lack of sight has reduced their productive
ability to such an extent that they cannot carry their
own weight in competition with the sighted. Or it may
be that they have never been able to sufficiently adjust
themselves to the loss of sight to enable them to get
about with enough independence to work in a regular
factory.

A special workshop has many policy questions to de-
cide. There is no accepted principle which governs the
management of all. Some workshops try to select work-
men with a high degree of productivity but who, for
personal reasons or for some other reasons, cannot be
employed in regular concerns. The managements of such
establishments try to operate without a deficit, even
though they pay good wages. They very rarely succeed in
keeping out of the red, however, and therefore they must
depend upon a generous public to make up the deficit.

Blindness varies greatly in its effect upon the capacity
of blind people to work. For this reason it is usually good
policy to place the workmen on a piece rate basis. When
this is done, the piece rate is usually high enough to en-
able a workman of average ability to earn wages equal
to those that are prescribed by the labor union in the
locality, and sometimes the rate is higher than that paid
seeing people for their output in corresponding industrial
concerns. Therefore, many of these blind people earn
good wages but some, even at a high piece rate, are able
to earn only a few dollars a week. The question then

154

EARNING A LIVING

arises, does the man produce a sufficient amount to
justify retaining him in the shop where he takes the place
of a more productive worker? If he is kept and does not
earn enough to meet his living expenses, what shall the
shop do about it? Usually some plan is evolved by which
the amount of earned wages is augmented by an amount
sufficient to enable the worker to live decently. Usually
the blind relief authorities operating under the Federal
Social Security Act cooperate in a case of this kind. But
the workshop frequently has to raise money from private
sources to make up this augmentation fund.

The question always arises, how to augment wages
and at the same time encourage the workman not only
to put forth his best efforts but to try to improve his
skill. The workshop management usually meets this situ-
ation by handling the supplementary pay of the blind
worker in such a way that the more he produces, the
more take-home pay he has. For example, if it is decided
that a blind man must have $25 a week on which to live,
but is able to earn only $10, he is paid $15 augmentation
pay. If by increasing his efficiency and putting forth
more effort, he is able to produce enough so that his real
earnings are $11, his augmentation is increased by 50
cents. He then has an income of $26.50. If he earns still
another dollar, his pay is augmented by another 50 cents
and his total income is $28. The management, however,
usually decides upon a certain top weekly income above
which the workshop will not participate with augumen-
tation money.

The most serious problem confronting the workshop
manager is to find a suitable product to manufacture.
Workshops are influenced very much by tradition. Those
who established the workshops for the blind in this coun-

155

AS I SAW IT

try during the third and fourth quarters of the nineteenth
century, discovered that the manufacture of brooms
and the cane-seating of chairs offered fair opportunities
for blind people to earn a living. Not too high a degree
of skill was required, and it was not too difficult to find
a market in the community for the products. During
the twentieth century an effort has been made to get
away from brooms and chair caning, if possible. Broom
making seems to be a declining business, and cane-seated
chairs are becoming obsolete. Still, today more blind
people work at the manufacture of brooms in special
workshops than at any other trade.

Experiments have been conducted with making coco-
mats, pillowcases and doormats constructed of new rubber
blocks and wire, or made from wornout automobile tires
cut into small pieces and strung on wires. Experiments have
also been made with rag-rug weaving, weaving of linen
for table scarves, weaving of cloth from homespun wool,
brush making, basket making and mop making. Basket
making never became very popular, first because of the
skill it required, and second, because of the competition
with cheap foreign labor. At best, few blind people were
able to earn reasonable wages. Rag-rug weaving lacked
a sufficiently large market, and again, competition left
little margin for the blind workman of average ability.
Limited markets also kept coco-mat manufacture and
other mat business from expanding sufficiently to em-
ploy many blind people.

Perhaps the greatest problem facing the special work-
shop manager is that of disposing of his product. In
normal times most workshops for the blind have diffi-
culty in selling enough of their output to keep the
blind people who want work fully occupied. During

i56

EARNING A LIVING

recent years, the managers have given more attention to
their sales departments. They have found that with a com-
petent sales force travelling about calling on customers,
as does the average factory salesman, the market could
be expanded substantially.

Many workshops have tried selling brooms and other
commodities direct to the consumer, from door to door,
with a kind of Fuller Brush procedure. Some depart-
ment stores have been induced to put in a special counter
for commodities made by the blind, giving the entire
proceeds to the local agencies for the blind. There have
been cases when commodities made by the blind were
sold at church bazaars and at counters in summer and
winter resort hotels.

Where the homework done by the blind could be
sufficiently standardized, products of blind labor have
sometimes been sold to jobbers. Usually, however, this
procedure has showed a substantial deficit, even under
favorable conditions. Perhaps the most successful effort
in this connection has been the selling to jobbers and re-
tail stores of handwoven neckties manufactured by a
workshop for the blind in Seattle, Washingon.

In some instances substantial quantities of brooms have
been sold to railroads and steamship companies in satis-
factory quantities and at prices which left room for fair
wages to blind people without causing much of a deficit
on the shop's books.

One of the largest outlets, though usually leaving little
margin for wages and management, has been the sale of
brooms and mops to federal and state governments. In
this kind of business, however, very severe competition
has had to be met. In the mop business, for instance,
where there were only a few manufacturers, the bulk of

157

AS I SAW IT

the mops offered the government were made by work-
shops for the blind, who found that other workshops for
the blind were their most severe competitors. In fact,
they were all actually selling at a loss, to the Federal
Government especially, even though the wages paid blind
people were small and only sufficient profit was being
sought to meet the cost of operation.

To relieve this situation it was decided to ask the
American Foundation for the Blind to get a law enacted
by Congress which would require the federal purchasing
departments to buy from workshops for the blind brooms,
mops and other suitable commodities which could be
made by the blind. Congresswoman Mrs. Caroline O'Day
and Senator Robert F. Wagner, both of New York, were
interested in sponsoring such a bill. The commodities
made by the blind were to be bought by the Federal
Government at a fair market price, to be determined by
a committee appointed by the President and containing
representatives of the federal departments doing the most
purchasing, such as the Army, Navy, Post Office, etc. In
addition to the department representatives, the committee
was to contain a representative of the general public
familiar with the employment of the blind.

The bill was introduced, and in order that the reader
may understand some of the difficulties of getting such a
worthy measure through Congress, I am going into
some detail regarding the efforts to obtain its passage.

The bill was introduced into the House and Senate
almost simultaneously. It passed the Senate with little
difficulty, but in the House a peculiar set of obstacles was
encountered.

The Committee on Executive Department Expendi-
tures was quite inactive. Few bills were referred to it.

i58

EARNING A LIVING

The chairman was not in good health and the committee
seldom met. Sometimes the committee meetings were as
infrequent as two or three times a year. Such committees
meet only upon call of the chair. It happened that the
committee had had before it a bill which the chairman
did not like. It was sponsored by certain women's clubs,
and required the Army to put its superannuated horses
and mules out to pasture for life, instead of killing them
as had been common practice. The chairman felt that this
was sentimental, and would have none of it. Now a bill
at that time had to pass both the House and the Senate
in the same session. If it passed the Senate and was not
acted upon by the House during a single session, it died
and had to be reintroduced in both houses at the next
session.

Minor bills of this kind seldom meet with much oppo-
sition. What its friends mostly have to contend with is
inertia due to lack of interest on the part of those operat-
ing the cumbersome machine known as the United States
Congress. This bill which meant so much to workshops
for the blind and which would bring to them millions of
dollars in business, lay neglected in the files of the com-
mittee. The chairman would not say why he would not
call a meeting, but everyone knew that it was the super-
annuated horse bill which was the fly in the ointment. If
the committee met, the pressure from women's clubs
would make it necessary for the committee to act on
that bill. So long as it did not meet there was little that
the kind-hearted ladies could do about it. While the chair-
man did not like the old horse bill, he did not care to
incur the ire of some of his feminine constituents by
having the bill reported unfavorably. Finally, however,

J59

AS I SAW IT

sufficient pressure was mustered to get both bills re-
ported out with a recommendation for passage.

Time was running out, however. Hundreds of bills
were on the House calender awaiting action. It takes con-
siderable time to get a bill acted upon by the House.
Sometimes it can be disposed of in two minutes, some-
times it requires two days of discussion. In order to
expedite action, the House has set up a unanimous consent
calendar. Bills placed upon this calendar come up for ac-
tion twice a month. However, if any bill on this calendar
comes up for action and one vote is cast against it, it
must go over until the next unanimous consent day. If,
the second time it comes up, two votes are cast against it,
it is killed.

The Wagner-O'Day bill was placed on the unanimous
consent calendar and came up for action within two or
three weeks of the end of the session. Congressman Ham-
ilton Fish, who usually favored bills benefiting the blind,
for some reason did not like this bill — probably because
it was sponsored by two New Deal Democrats from his
own state. Therefore, when it came up he shouted from
the back of the room something about the New Deal not
being satisfied with regimenting everybody else "and
now it's trying to regiment the blind." Illogical as the
argument was, it constituted a vote against the bill.

There was still a chance to bring it up at the next
unanimous consent day. There was to be one more dur-
ing the session. The author tried to discuss the matter
with Mr. Fish but he was too busy. Mrs. O'Day was ill
and unable to push the bill herself. Finally the calendar
committee met and, owing to the pressure of bills, de-
cided that no bill could come up on the last consent calen-

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EARNING A LIVING

dar of the session if it had ever been rejected on a former
day. This seemed to sink the measure.

The author, who was responsible for presenting to the
members of Congress the arguments for the bill went to
Speaker Bankhead and asked for his intervention. Bank-
head, knowing that Helen Keller who was born in his
native state of Alabama was very anxious to see the bill
passed, said that he would help out and suggested a pro-
cedure seldom resorted to in Congress. He proposed that
the congressman who had been delegated by Mrs. O'Day
because of her illness to look after her bills, move on the
last day of the session that the rules be suspended and that
this bill be taken up. It would require a two-thirds vote
to suspend the rule, and when voted upon the bill must
pass unanimously.

This congressman, being rather new in Congress, knew
very little about the bill, knew less about this special
procedure, and was very obviously nervous about the
whole matter. The author, who had set his heart on
getting the bill passed, was still more nervous. He went to
the then Democratic floor leader, Sam Rayburn, and
asked his counsel. Rayburn assured him that there was
no reason to worry if the Speaker had promised to get
the bill through.

The author had found from bitter experience that con-
gressmen under pressure of business too often forget their
promises at the last minute, and if Bankhead should for-
get, there was nothing that could be done about it but to
start the whole long-drawn-out procedure over again
next session.

The House, which usually meets at noon, met around
nine o'clock that day, planning to adjourn at noon. Bank-
head had promised the congressman who was looking

161

AS I SAW IT

after Mrs. O'Day's bills that he would give him a signal
when he was to move consideration of the bill. Nine
o'clock came, and we were in quite a tizzy; 9:30 came,
and no signal from the Speaker; 10 o'clock, no signal;
10:30, no signal; 11 o'clock, no signal. The author went
to Rayburn's office and begged him to send a note to
Bankhead reminding him of this bill. He was brushed off
with the assurance that if the Speaker promised to take
care of the bill he would not forget, and it would do
more harm than good to remind him of it. About 1 1:30
when the author, who was sitting in the balcony on the
point of collapse, heard Mrs. O'Day's congressman ask
for the floor he knew the long-awaited signal had been
received. The congressman got recognition immediately
and proceeded to make a speech in behalf of the bill.
He knew so little about the measure that, on the strength
of his speech, the author himself would have voted
against it.

However, a blind congressman by the name of Mat-
thew Dunn from McKee's Rock, Pennsylvania, got up
and explained the merits of the bill. A vote was ordered
by the Speaker. Several stalwart Republicans, not in-
cluding Fish, began protesting in the rear of the room.
It is doubtful that they knew what the bill was about, ex-
cept that it was sponsored by two outstanding New
Dealers. The shouts of these half dozen objectors made
the author's heart sink still further. Passage must be unani-
mous. After a minute or so of uproar from the back of
the room, the Speaker banged on his desk and pro-
claimed, "Hearing no objection, I declare the bill passed."
The die had been cast. Nothing short of a presidential
veto could then kill the bill. There was no danger of a

162

EARNING A LIVING

presidential veto, because Mrs. Caroline O'Day was a
close friend of the Roosevelt family.

The Wagner-O'Day law was soon put into operation.
A very capable committee was appointed. The representa-
tive of the public was Major M. C. Migel, known as a
well-informed and enthusiastic friend of the blind. Ad-
miral Peebles was at that time head of the procurement
department upon which the burden of making the Wag-
ner-O'Day law function properly must fall. The Navy
had never been enthusiastic about this particular law,
but the fact that a retired admiral was in charge of pur-
chases probably helped to smooth out possible difficulties
from that source in the inauguration of the measure.

The success of the Wagner-O'Day law, however, is
largely traceable to Robert Le Fevre, assistant to the
head of the procurement department, then a division of
the U.S. Treasury Department. He took a great interest
in the law and in what it would mean to blind people,
and it was he who smoothed out the rough places in
the operation of this very unusual federal law.

The Wagner-O'Day law authorized the selection of a
nonprofit private agency to cooperate with the Federal
Government in making the law work. The American
Foundation for the Blind was first asked to take this
responsibility; however, it preferred to have an inde-
pendent specialized organization formed to take over this
job. Therefore a nonprofit organization was formed
under the laws of New York State, to be known as Na-
tional Industries for the Blind, Inc. The board of trustees
of this organization largely overlapped the board of
trustees of the American Foundation for the Blind but
also included several managers of workshops for the
blind. ! j ■

163

AS I SAW IT

Probably the whole success of the operation of the
law depended upon the man who was to head up the
National Industries for the Blind. If he were unwise or
lacking in resourcefulness it could still be a failure. For-
tunately, there was available Chester C. Kleber, who had
for several years supervised the WPA project which had
manufactured so many thousands of Talking Book ma-
chines, and he was selected by the Board as general man-
ager. He and Mr. Le Fevre soon became close friends,
both fired with a zeal to make this strange law work.

About the time the Wagner-O'Day law went into ef-
fect, things were happening in Europe, and the United
States began preparing for possible entrance into the
second world war. This meant that the Federal Govern-
ment was soon launched upon a campaign of purchasing
brooms, mops and pillowcases, to an extent that work-
shops for the blind had never dreamed of, and all of this
business could go to them if they wanted it, at the prices
set by the Federal Government committee. The law
specified that this committee could set a fair market price
which the workshops for the blind could take or leave,
as they chose. If they did not want to sell brooms, mops
and pillowcases at the prices set, no one would be ag-
grieved and the orders would be put up for open bidding.
The committee decided that " fair market price" did not
necessarily mean the lowest price possible, because it
might be that some concern might have a large stock of
brooms or mops, or pillowcases, which it was dumping
on the market. Therefore, from time to time the price-
setting committee obtained bids from the public, and
upon the basis of these bids and the conditions under
which they were made, a fair market price was deter-
mined. This procedure protected the taxpayer against

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EARNING A LIVING

exorbitant prices, but also protected the workshops
against any dumping prices.

The workshops for the blind entered a period of un-
precedented activity. Two or three shops which had
formerly operated but three or four days a week were
now running seven days a week, twenty-four hours a
day. The manufacture of pillowcases had long been one
of the small activities of workshops for the blind. It was
an industry which blind women could work at, but it had
always been thought about in terms of a few dozen items
rather than several millions. Ordinary sewing machines
had been used and no one had been stimulated to find out
his maximum productivity possibilities because the shops
had had difficulty in selling the pillowcases they made.
Now they were confronted with orders for millions of
pillowcases. Few shops for the blind knew what their
costs would be in quantity production and wanted to
try out orders for ten thousand or so. Mr. Kleber realized
that ten thousand was only a drop in the bucket against
a million pillowcase order. He finally prevailed upon Mr.
Edward S. Molineaux, manager of a workshop for the
blind in Brooklyn, to undertake to make half a million
pillowcases. Molineaux's shop had never made any pillow-
cases before, but fortunately he had a deep interest in the
blind and something of the spirit of a gambler. He took
the order for half a million, without any idea of how he
was going to deliver the goods, or even purchase the raw
material. His organization was not too interested in tack-
ling such a job, but he prevailed upon it to allow him to
use the organization's credit and purchase raw material
sufficient to go forward with the job. Probably no one
but Molineaux and Kleber realized the financial chances
that were being taken. Certainly the jobber who extended

165

AS I SAW IT

the credit did not realize it until later. But it all worked
out all right. The pillowcases were delivered on time,
the creditors were paid. The blind workers got a lot of
experience and the outlet was saved as a market for the
product of hundreds of blind women workers.

On the basis of this experience, other workshops for
the blind were willing to accept large orders for pillow-
cases. Had Molineaux not been willing to take the gam-
ble, or had he failed to deliver, blind women of this coun-
try would never have had the opportunity to earn the
hundreds of thousands of dollars in wages which even-
tually came to them from the government's pillowcase
business.

In this case and in others the workshops for the blind
did well in meeting the government specifications, both
as to quality of workmanship and time of delivery. Three
of them did so well that they received the Army and
Navy "E" for excellence of service. They proudly flew
their "E" flags, a privilege that less than five per cent of
the industrial concerns of the country enjoyed.

The bulk of orders from the Federal Government are
for brooms, mops and pillowcases. National Industries
for the Blind and the Federal Procurement Department
are constantly studying government requirements in an
effort to find a greater variety of commodities which
workshops for the blind can supply. One unfamiliar with
government purchasing may be surprised to learn the
variety of commodities purchased. It includes an amaz-
ing number of various items, and many of them may be
produced by the blind.

166

THE IMPORTANCE OF

POWER TO MOVE ABOUT

AT WILL

Dr. Irwin became blind at the age of five. He developed a
high skill in getting about on his own during his years at
the school for the blind and during his periods of attendance
at the University of Washington and at Harvard University .
He preserved this skill through his active working years and
commuted alone from his home in New Jersey to the offices
of the American Foundation for the Blind in New York
City. However, his descriptions of the blind man's feelings
of humiliation at being dependent on others for getting
about, and of the terrors that modern traffic holds for the
blind man, are expressions of his own deep feelings on the
matter.

elen Keller once said that the heaviest
burden on the blind is not blindness, but
idleness. This has been quoted for a gen-
eration by advocates of remunerative em-
ployment for the blind. Idleness, however,
1! has a much broader significance. Probably
more important than earning one's own living is having
the ability to move about at will.

It takes no great skill for a blind person to learn to get
about his own home alone, but under modern traffic con-
ditions in practically every community, it takes initiative
and intestinal fortitude for a blind person to go for a
walk beyond his own gate, or go to the neighborhood
drugstore, grocer or barbershop unaccompanied. Those
who lose their sight in later life, and who in number
represent more than half of the blind population of the
United States, are pretty likely to be homebound or at
least dependent upon the kindness and generosity of
relatives and friends for making even the shortest jour-
neys away from home. The inability to go forth alone at
will without accommodating oneself to the convenience
of one's associates is perhaps the greatest affliction result-
ing from blindness. To have to ask a friend or a busy mem-
ber of the family to go along on the simplest of errands is
more humiliating than most seeing people realize and hu-
miliation brings with it a deep resentment at one's lot.

The advent of the automobile has greatly added to the
blind man's difficulties. Many a sightless person who at

169

AS I SAW IT

one time travelled alone with ease has resigned himself
to idleness in the face of the terrors of motor traffic.

Fortunate indeed is the blind man who is in a financial
position to hire a guide. Allowance for guide service
should always be made when the budget of a sightless
person is calculated even when that budget must be met
at public expense. Our government has recognized that
blind people should not be compelled to depend upon the
charity of their neighbors for food and clothing but still,
in most instances, the blind man must depend upon the
charity of his associates when he wishes to walk about
his neighborhood in safety.

Some substitutes for a human guide have been found.
When the first savage lost his sight in the wilderness, he
probably learned to make good use of his club in getting
about from place to place. The blind man and his staff
have become proverbial since the days of Greek mythol-
ogy and the Bible. The use of the cane, however, has
received more attention during the past fifty years than
heretofore. Home teachers have taught their pupils to
use a cane and blind people have become expert in mak-
ing use of their trusty stick, but for years few attempts
were made to analyze this skill and teach any particular
method for using it.

William Hanks Levy, in 1872, went into considerable
detail in his book Blindness and the Blind in describing
the use of the cane. Richard E. Hoover, when assigned
the responsibility for training the men blinded in the
second world war to travel about alone reduced the use
of the cane to a scientific method which was taught to
U.S. Army men who went through training courses at
Valley Forge General Hospital. Probably most of these
students later modified Hoover's method in one way or

170

THE POWER TO MOVE ABOUT

another to suit their own needs, but to Hoover should go
the credit for insisting that the art of traveling about with
a cane should not be left to the chance resourcefulness of
each individual. His method was not only used at Valley
Forge and the U.S. Army's Dibble General Hospital but
for a time regular courses were offered at the Maryland
School for the Blind and elsewhere for rehabilitation
workers. The method has been brought to a point of
perfection in the instruction of blinded veterans at the
Veterans Administration Hospital at Hines, Illinois.

Long before the second world war certain blind people
desiring to be easily recognized as sightless in modern
traffic began carrying a white cane. It is claimed that the
white cane movement originated in France and soon
found its way across the Channel to England. In the
United States action was first taken in Peoria, Illinois,
where the first city ordinance requiring regulation of the
use of the white cane was passed in 1930. In quick suc-
cession other city ordinances were passed and soon laws
were enacted in a majority of the states of the Union re-
quiring automobile drivers to give the right of way to a
blind person carrying a white stick. Today, thousands
of autoists are quick to recognize the white cane as an
indication that the carrier cannot use ordinary care in
avoiding a collision.

Many blind people object to carrying the white cane
as they feel that it makes their blindness too conspicuous
in ordinary social intercourse. Most blind people use the
cane as a means of learning the contour of the path im-
mediately ahead of their feet. Tapping with the cane is
not used by the blind man to warn other pedestrians of
his approach in the hope that they will clear the way,
but is used, rather, to get the echo from walls, buildings,

171

AS I SAW IT

trees, bushes and the like. This echo tells him much about
the character of his surroundings far beyond the reach of
his cane. It greatly augments any information which the
blind man may derive from so-called facial perception or
obstacle sense.

The cane, however, is not the only tool whose use has
been greatly developed during the twentieth century.
For centuries blind people have traveled about with the
faithful dog which guides them through many a com-
plicated situation. Early in the nineteenth century Johann
Wilhelm Klein of Vienna wrote a book on the education
of the blind describing a method of training dog guides,
but there seems to be no record indicating whether or
not these trained guide dogs were actually ever put to
use. During the first world war a problem presented by
the thousands of soldiers who lost their sight in the Ger-
man army was met by the German Government by de-
veloping a system of training guide dogs for its blinded
veterans. Four large schools and many small ones were
set up in Germany for the training of these dogs which
were provided without cost for the blinded veterans.

In 1927 Mrs. Dorothy Harrison Eustis, an American
woman, was conducting an experiment near Vevey, Swit-
zerland in the training of dogs for various uses. Her ken-
nels were known as Fortunate Fields. Here she trained
dogs for the state police and the Red Cross, and liaison
dogs for the Swiss Army. These dogs were trained for
criminal trailing, and as prison and railroad yard guards.
She was filled with a zeal to increase the dog's usefulness
to man. When in that year she heard that schools in
Germany were training dogs as guides for the blind, she
visited Potsdam and other places and studied their meth-
ods. On November 5, 1927 an article by her entitled

172

THE POWER TO MOVE ABOUT

"The Seeing Eye" was published in The Saturday Eve-
ning Post. This article described the use of the guide dogs
for the blind in Germany. She drew her name from Prov-
erbs 20:12 "The hearing ear, and the seeing eye, the Lord
hath made even both of them." This article was read with
much interest by many blind people in America and more
than one envisioned the dog as his emancipator. Morris
Frank, a young blind insurance salesman in Nashville,
Tennessee immediately communicated with Mrs. Eustis
to learn where he could obtain such a dog and expressed
the ambition to organize a training school in the United
States where such dogs might be educated and provided
to blind people on this side of the water. Frank journeyed
to Vevey, Switzerland, learned to use a dog at Fortunate
Fields and returned to the United States a "free man."
The author well remembers Morris Frank calling him on
the phone when he arrived in New York on his way to
Europe. He expressed a desire to call on the writer but
was appalled by the terrors of New York traffic. How-
ever, arrangements were made for him to come to the
American Foundation for the Blind in a taxi with an es-
cort. Four months later Frank again called the author on
the phone from the same hotel two miles away and
made an appointment to come to the Foundation an hour
later. Accompanied only by his dog, Frank traveled
across the city on foot to the Foundation offices and
after a chat of an hour or so returned alone with his dog
to his hotel full of enthusiasm for the new day for the
blind.

Willi H. Ebeling, a German-American, who had re-
tired from business to concentrate upon his hobby of
breeding shepherd dogs, also became interested in this
use of his favorite animal. He joined forces with Mrs.

173

AS I SAW IT

Eustis and Elliott S. "Jack" Humphrey, her chief trainer,
and soon The Seeing Eye, a newly formed corporation not
for profit, was operating a training school at Morristown,
New Jersey. A Swiss by the name of William Debetaz
was brought over from Fortunate Fields to act as head
trainer. Since that time about 2000 blind people have
been provided with Seeing Eye dogs. No dog is given
by the Seeing Eye to a blind person except upon the pay-
ment of $150 which the blind person has to earn. It is felt
that by making this requirement the blind master will
have a greater appreciation of the value of his dog. Some-
times the payment of the $150 may be distributed over a
period of several years and the applicant is not required
to wait until the dog is entirely paid for before receiving
it. These dogs which are perhaps the best trained dogs in
the world require about three months of preliminary
training plus a month's training with the master, all of
which is carried on at Morristown.

Those of the Seeing Eye insist that their dogs are not
trained, but educated, for a dog is taught to guard his
master even to the extent of disregarding orders if by so
doing his master is kept from possible injury. For example,
a man and his dog might encounter a hole in the sidewalk.
The dog might stop and the master order him to proceed
forward. An educated guide dog will refuse to advance
but will insist on going around the hole and letting his
master know that carrying out the order to go forward
would be dangerous.

Careful study is exercised in the selection of recipients
of Seeing Eye dogs as not every blind person can use a
dog guide. Some are too young, many too old. Some do
not like dogs. According to the Seeing Eye people, less
than five per cent of the blind can use a dog guide. Great

174

THE POWER TO MOVE ABOUT

care is also exercised in the selection of trainers. It is said
that out of ten apprentice trainers, about nine are usually
rejected.

The Seeing Eye was the pioneer training school for
guide dogs in the United States. In the years following
other centers have been established in various parts of the
country for the purpose of utilizing man's best friend in
this new capacity. Some of these schools have given good
service in their special localities, others have been dis-
continued. Probably the failure of many guide dog train-
ing schools can be attributed to incompetent trainers
more than to any other cause.

175

THE FIGHT
FOR SOCIAL SECURITY

Special local legislation providing relief to the needy blind
in the form of direct financial assistance from public funds
has a long history in the United States. The oldest provision
of this type is found in a resolution passed in 1866 by the
Board of Aldermen and Board of Councihnen of New York
City, establishing a definite procedure for dealing with ap-
plications from blind persons for "donations" from city
funds. The first state law for relief for the blind was passed
in Ohio in 1898. This law was later declared unconstitu-
tional^ so that Illinois^ so-called "blind pension" law of
1903 actually pioneered in establishing the principle of re-
lief for the blind from public funds. By January, 1935
twenty -six states had passed similar legislation.

In 1935, with the passage of the Social Security Act, the
Federal Government assumed the responsibility of helping
the states to provide assistance to the needy blind. In the
following pages Dr. Irwin gives his story of the passage of
the Act — a fight for security for the blind in which he took
a very active part.

Since Dr. Irwin's sudden death in 1951, additional legisla-
tive measures have been passed relative to financial aid to
the blind. In 1952 an amendment to the Social Security Act
raised the federal maximum on the amount to be paid to
blind individuals to $55.00, out of which the Federal Gov-
ernment pays four-fifths of the first $25.00 and one-half of
the balance within the maximum. Furthermore, in 1953
Nevada passed a law meeting the requirements for fed-
eral-state assistance to the blind. The program, therefore,
is now in force in all the states of the Union.

he Wagner-Lewis Bill (later known as
the Social Security Act) was the founda-
tion of the New Deal program of economic
and social security. Unemployment in-
surance, old-age pensions, maternal and
child welfare, and a program for crippled
children were provided in the original bill, with the Fed-
eral Government matching state funds within certain
limits. To these provisions the American Foundation for
the Blind proposed the following additions:

i. Eligibility of blind persons at the age of fifty to the
benefits of the old-age pensions to which sighted per-
sons are eligible at sixty-five.

2. Inclusion of "children with seriously defective vision"
among "crippled children" for whom "facilities for
diagnosis and care, hospitalization, and after-care" are
provided.

3. Provision of $1,500,000 of federal funds to supplement
state funds for work for the blind, exclusive of edu-
cation of the young blind and direct relief.

However, the amendment embodying most of these
suggestions failed of inclusion in the final act.

As the bill passed the House of Representatives it con-
tained no reference to the blind. However, the Senate
inserted, by committee amendment, a special section,
Title X, dealing with grants to states for aid to the blind.
This Title X authorized an appropriation of $3,000,000

179

AS I SAW IT

for the fiscal year 1936, and for each year thereafter, so
much as might be necessary for assistance to the states
through reimbursement of one-half of the state's expendi-
tures for aid to the needy blind, always with the pro-
vision that the federal grant must not exceed $15.00
monthly on behalf of any one blind person. The money
was to be paid to states whose plan for aid to the blind
had been approved by the Social Security Board as com-
plying with certain requirements similar to the plan for
old-age assistance. The bill was reported to the Senate in
this form.

Senator Robert F. Wagner, sponsor of the original
bill, offered from the floor of the Senate, at the request of
Helen Keller, a further amendment to provide that one-
half of the proposed funds might be used to reimburse
states for expenditures for "locating blind persons, diag-
nosing their eye conditions, and training and employment
of the blind" and also providing that state blind relief
laws should contain definitions of blindness and of need
acceptable to the Social Security Board. This amendment
was passed by the Senate.

Since, however, the bill had passed the House and the
Senate in different forms, it was referred to a joint con-
ference committee of House and Senate to have the dif-
ferences removed by mutual agreement. This conference
committee eliminated Senator Wagner's amendment, but
accepted Title X as formulated by the Senate committee.
The use of federal funds was limited to reimbursements
for state programs of blind relief. In this form the bill
was passed by both legislative bodies and was signed by
the President on August 14, 1935.

It is to be noted that the Act does not provide a direct
federal pension to blind individuals, nor does it directly

180

SOCIAL SECURITY

increase the amount which a state or county pays to a
blind person. This amount is based strictly on need. In
the operation of the plan a minimum subsistence budget
for a blind individual is set up, the resources required
to meet these needs are calculated and the payments
of aid adjusted, where maximums or appropriations per-
mit, to bring the income of the blind individual up to
the amount of his budget requirements.

The principle of the "needs test" has been the subject
of much adverse criticism. Many blind people and or-
ganizations of the blind have urged its abolition contend-
ing that since most blind people are indigent and since
careful investigation is very expensive, it is believed that
maintenance of machinery for the investigations will cost
more than the amount saved by the discovery of persons
who could get along without the grant.

In the light of some of this criticism it is interesting to
note that the American Association of Workers for the
Blind, Committee for Adequate Relief appointed in 1929
included in its report of 193 1 the following passage:
"Adequate relief from whatever source or sources ob-
tained should be adjusted to the needs of the individuals,
as determined by the best scientific and social judgment
of the standards in the community in which the blind
person lives, rather than give fixed and flat rate amounts."

At the time of the passage of the Act twenty-six states
had programs of relief to the needy blind in effect but
not one of these programs met the requirements of the
Social Security Act. Some were rendered ineligible by
the stringency of their residence requirements, some by
the fact that the blind relief was administered by the
counties without supervision of a state agency, some by
the fact that the relief laws were not state-wide and man-

181

AS I SAW IT

datory on the counties, some because there was no finan-
cial participation by the states. The prospect of receiving
a fifty per cent reimbursement from the Federal Govern-
ment prompted these and other states to hasten to make
themselves eligible for federal aid, either by amending
existing laws or by passing new legislation. All states
with the exception of Nevada have now come under the
Social Security Act. Missouri has joined the program, but
in addition still pays a flat pension to certain of its blind.
(See chapter introductory remarks.)

Even taking into consideration the lower cost of liv-
ing at the time as compared with that of the present day,
most grants in the states having relief programs in 1935
were far from adequate to meet the living needs of sight-
less people. Many states, therefore, in their new legisla-
tion and in anticipation of federal aid increased the maxi-
mum limit of payments substantially.

Some states, including New York, removed the top
limit entirely leaving it to the administration to give as
adequate relief as possible with the funds available. The
states are responsible for determining the amount of the
individual monthly grant based on an investigation of
the needs of the blind person, and may pay more or less
than the federal maximum. However, the Social Security
Act has always included a limit on the amount of reim-
bursement to the states that the Federal Government will
give with respect to any individual recipient of aid.

This has had the effect of suggesting to the states that
such an allowance is adequate. For example, if the Federal
Government reimburses a given fraction of any payment
up to a maximum of $30.00 per month on account of any
individual there is a tendency for the states to limit the
amount of relief to $30.00, even though in certain com-

182

SOCIAL SECURITY

munities under certain conditions three times this amount
is often inadequate. For this reason every time the Social
Security Act has come up for any amendment, efforts
have been made to increase the federal share of expenses.
The first amendment passed in 1939 raised the amount
of possible Federal contribution to $20.00 per month,
still on a fifty-fifty matching basis. The amendment,
however, provided that the Federal Government pays
fifty per cent of the administrative cost.

As time went by the fifty per cent reimbursement was
deemed insufficient for many states to carry on anything
like a satisfactory relief program. It was thought that
perhaps a plan could be worked out based on average in-
come in the various states so that the less prosperous
states would be reimbursed up to two-thirds of their ex-
penditures while in the more prosperous states the re-
imbursement should not exceed fifty per cent. This plan,
however, was never put into effect as representatives of
the prosperous states contended that on a fifty per cent
reimbursement basis they did not receive back in federal
grants nearly as much as they paid over to the Federal
Government in taxes.

Other ways were found to help the low income states.
In 1946 the maximum federal share of the individual pay-
ments to needy blind persons was increased from $20.00
to $25.00 per month. This amendment also provided that
the Federal Government, instead of matching state funds
on a fifty-fifty basis, would pay two-thirds of the first
$15.00 of the average monthly payment to blind individ-
uals and one-half of the balance of all expenditures within
the $45.00 total maximum. Carrying this principle further,
an amendment of 1948 increased the maximum on indi-
vidual payments to $50.00 per month, specifying that

183

AS I SAW IT

three-fourths of the first $20.00 of the average monthly-
assistance payment and one-half of the balance within
the $50.00 total maximum would be paid by the Federal
Government. (See chapter introductory remarks.)

This has had the effect of easing the burden of the low
income states, but it has also sometimes had the effect of
keeping the grants down to an amount for which more
than a fifty per cent reimbursement would be received.

Ever since the passage of the Social Security Act of
1935 Congress has been importuned to amend the law
so as to extend the benefits of the old-age and survivors
insurance plan to cover blind people under sixty-five
years of age giving them the same benefits that they would
receive were they of that age. Many other countries hav-
ing social security programs somewhat resembling those
in the United States have made some such provision for
the blind, notably Canada and Great Britain.

Another criticism brought against the Social Security
Act was that it did not permit sufficient flexibility of ad-
ministration to encourage the industrial blind to become
self-supporting. The original Title X of 1935 gave as its
purpose "to furnish financial assistance to needy indi-
viduals who are blind." The 1939 amendment, however,
specified that "the state agency shall, in determining
need, take into consideration any other income of an in-
dividual claiming aid to the blind."

In the operation of the Act it was argued that blind
people of low productivity had little or no incentive to
work when opportunity was afforded. It was pointed out
that many blind persons having lost their sight in adult
life adjust themselves very slowly to working without
the aid of sight. It was also pointed out that when a blind
person earned less than the relief grant and when this

184

SOCIAL SECURITY

grant was reduced by the amount received in remunera-
tion of his labor he got little besides physical exercise as
a result of his efforts. The American Foundation for the
Blind, the American Association of Workers for the
Blind, and the National Federation of the Blind joined
forces in bringing this weakness in the law to the atten-
tion of Congress. As a result the Social Security Act
in 1950 was so amended as to permit states to disregard
up to $50.00 per month of a blind man's earnings when
calculating his resources. This amendment was permissive
up to 1952 after which date it becomes mandatory upon
states receiving federal reimbursement.

The Social Security Act has, since its inception, been
criticized on the grounds that it did not permit state ad-
ministrators of relief to take into account certain special
expenses which blind people must incur as a direct re-
sult of their lack of sight. It was pointed out that blind
people, unlike sighted people in the same economic level,
must hire guides, pay for readers, disburse many more
tips, resort to taxis instead of buses, pay more for clean-
ing clothes in order to be presentable, etc.

This criticism has been met in many states by adminis-
trative regulations, though it must be admitted that in
far too many communities social workers determining
the amount of aid to be given have been following too
slavishly the budget prepared for the far more numerous
recipients of old-age relief who enjoy a fair amount of
sight and therefore do not have many of the expenses
which a blind person must meet.

In 1949 a passage in an amendment to the Social Se-
curity Act required that state administrators take into ac-
count in an individual's needs the special expenses arising
from blindness. However, this particular clause was elimi-

185

AS I SAW IT

nated from the amendment when it was finally passed by
Congress in 1950.

It has also been contended that since much blindness
could have been prevented had society taken the pre-
cautions which a civilized community should have exer-
cised, the state in common justice should give all blind
people a monetary allowance or pension which would
be in the nature of a compensation or handicap allowance.
No legal action has been taken on this matter.

186

THE

AMERICAN FOUNDATION

FOR THE BLIND

Dr. Irwin was Director of Research and Education when
the Foundation opened its first modest offices in 1923. hi
1929 he became Executive Director of the fast-growing
agency. For the years of his directorship his name was prac-
tically synonymous with that of the American Foundation
for the Blind.

he American Foundation for the Blind
when promoted in 192 1 did not represent
a new idea. Mary Fowler, as far back as
1902, had dreamed of a national agency
for the blind. Certainly Charles F. F. Camp-
bell's fertile imagination envisioned a na-
tional organization for the blind as far back as 1906 or
perhaps earlier. His first step in the consummation of
such a dream was the establishment of the Outlook for
the Blind in 1907. But the country was not ready for it
yet. Only a few of the more foresighted among workers
for the blind felt the need of a national agency.

Ten years later, when "Evergreen," the Red Cross In-
stitute for the Blind at Baltimore, Maryland was set up in
191 8 for the training of the blinded soldiers and sailors of
the first world war, its sponsors became interested in con-
verting it eventually into a national organization for all
the blind. Foremost among the promoters of this idea
were Lieutenant-Colonel James Bordley, Director of the
institute, L. W. Wallace, his successor as director, and
Charles F. F. Campbell, who served on the staff as assist-
ant director. All of these men were outspoken in their
efforts to show the need for a national agency such as
they had in mind, and in their criticism of existing con-
ditions.

On the other hand, the then leading schools for the
blind — Perkins, Overbrook, and New York — had be-
come in the minds of the general public and also, perhaps,

189

AS I SAW IT

in the minds of their own managers, sources of informa-
tion and inspiration on every phase of work for the
blind. However, in the 19 19 Annual Report of Perkins
Institution, its cautious but imaginative Director, Edward
E. Allen, wrote in part:

"Some permanent institute or agency wisely run under
national auspices in trying out new, old or even aban-
doned fields, and for fitting the civilian blind to enter
them; also for persuading employers to hire them without
prejudice — something of this sort, the schools for the
young blind which are mainly prevocational in aim,
would welcome as a much needed adjunct to their work."

Other influential voices were heard in favor of the idea.
In 1920, pursuant to an address by Mr. L. W. Wallace,
Director of the Red Cross Institute for the Blind, the
American Association of Instructors of the Blind adopted
the following resolution:

"That this Association would welcome the coopera-
tion of some wisely organized agency for assisting and
improving the vocational education and the employment
of the blind of this country, such as has been outlined at
this convention."

At about this time the author, who was then super-
visor of classes for the blind in the public schools of
Ohio, visited Boston, New York, Philadelphia and Balti-
more in an effort to find someone who would be in-
terested in setting up a research organization. In Balti-
more he had a conference with his friend H. Randolph
Latimer of the Pennsylvania Association for the Blind,
then president of the American Association of Workers
for the Blind. After some discussion of the subject, Mr.
Latimer undertook to launch a movement to establish
an organization much broader than a research agency,

190

THE AMERICAN FOUNDATION

somewhat in line with what had been proposed by Mr.
Wallace at the American Association of Instructors of
the Blind convention. He envisioned an agency which
would not only carry on research work but would also
further work for the blind of all kinds through public
education, supplying technical counsel and encourage-
ment wherever it was felt that such activities would bear
fruit in the form of broader and more efficient activities
in behalf of the blind. In order to win the support of
workers for the blind in general, he proposed to build
the program for the 192 1 convention of the American
Association of Workers for the Blind around the idea of
a national agency for the blind.

Prior to the conference he arranged for a gathering of
a small number of workers for the blind at the New York
Institute for the Education of the Blind to discuss the
subject. This was attended by Mr. Edward M. Van
Cleve, Principal of the institute and the host, O. H.
Burritt, Edward E. Allen, Charles F. F. Campbell and
several other leaders in work for the blind, including the
author. After a day's discussion most of the misunder-
standings and misgivings regarding the establishment and
purpose of such a national agency seemed to have been
dissipated.

The convention program aroused much enthusiasm for
the project and a committee was appointed with instruc-
tions to take the legal steps necessary for organizing what
became the American Foundation for the Blind. Prac-
tically no money was available for this organization but
it started with at least lip-service backing from every-
body in work for the blind in the United States who had
any influence.

The group naturally turned to Major M. C. Migel, the

191

AS I SAW IT

well-known philanthropist, who had financed the work
of the Uniform Type Committee and who, it was be-
lieved, would be interested in this undertaking. Major
Migel was in Europe at the time of the meeting of the
board of trustees of the infant organization. Mr. Olin H.
Burritt was elected president to hold office until Major
Migel should return to the United States when it was
hoped that he would take over the duties of president.
To round out the temporary official set-up, Mr. Latimer
consented to act as temporary part-time secretary-general
pending the employment of a full-time executive.

Major Migel upon his return was unanimously elected
president to take office in May 1922. He was very much
interested in the project and promptly underwrote its
expenses for three years, at the rate of $10,000 a year.
What was more important, he undertook also to induce
his friends to join with him in meeting the minimum fi-
nancial needs of the Foundation for a three year period.
Upwards of $30,000 a year was so raised.

The Foundation offices were opened in New York,
February 1, 1923. The executive organization was com-
pleted with the assumption of duty as director-general
by Dr. Joseph C. Nate and the appointment of the author
as Director of Research and Education and of Charles B.
Hayes as Director of Information and Publicity and Edi-
tor of the Outlook for the Blind, Under the readjustment
in 1929 of the executive management the author was
made executive director and Mr. Hayes, retaining the
editorship of the Outlook, was made field director.
Major Migel served as president until November 30,
1945 when he became Chairman of the Board and Wil-
liam Ziegler, Jr. took over his duties as president.

Work was begun immediately to raise money to carry

192

THE AMERICAN FOUNDATION

on services nationwide in scope. This was difficult in the
beginning, but gradually friends were found who were
willing to contribute small amounts annually, both to-
ward the current operation and toward the building up
of an endowment. The board set a goal of an endow-
ment of two million dollars and an annual income for
operation purposes of $100,000. At the time money could
be invested at around five per cent. Changes in the value
of money and the exceptional growth of the Foundation
throughout the years have caused a revision of these early
plans and estimated figures. The annual budget of the
Foundation is now over $1,000,000 and the endowment
fund has long since passed the $2,000,000 mark.

Among the enthusiastic supporters of the Foundation
from its beginning must be mentioned Helen Keller and
her teacher Anne Sullivan Macy. Helen Keller in the
early years conducted a series of mass meetings across
the country to build up what was to be called the Helen
Keller Endowment Fund. These meetings made thou-
sands upon thousands of friends for the new organiza-
tion, friends who have proved faithful supporters of its
program throughout the years. Later Miss Keller joined
the Foundation's staff and serves as Counselor of Na-
tional and International Affairs. Her assistance in pro-
moting legislation for the blind through appearances
before federal and state legislative bodies has been inval-
uable, and she has always been ready to serve on projects
where her wide influence would secure the success of an
undertaking.

The first twelve years of the life of the Foundation
was spent in rented quarters. However, as the agency
grew and new projects were undertaken the problem of
space became more and more acute. Major Migel, as so

193

AS I SAW IT

often before, recognized this emergency and generously-
donated a new three-story building at 15 West 16th
Street to be used as headquarters, possession of which was
taken on December 5, 1935. Since that time the need
for space has made necessary the construction of an-
other building and the acquisition of more space adjacent
to the central building.

The American Foundation for the Blind was estab-
lished by action of agencies for the blind and friends of
the blind to fill the need for a national organization to
serve the interests of the blind and to coordinate the
work done by local agencies throughout the country. It
works in close cooperation with all governmental agen-
cies, both federal and state. In its discharge of duties it
scrupulously makes referrals to state agencies and local
voluntary agencies for those services that logically fall
within the scope of such agencies.

Among the activities of the Foundation can be men-
tioned research, consultation and field service, special
services to blind individuals, publication of professional
literature, and a special library on work with the blind.
In 1948, on its 25 th anniversary as a working agency,
the Foundation reported in part on its work through
those years:

Directly or indirectly the American Foundation for the
Blind has promoted the establishment of state agencies
for the blind in more than one-half of the states of the
Union.

It has worked to improve the education of the blind
through:

Surveys of schools for the blind;

194

THE AMERICAN FOUNDATION

The operation of an experimental and demonstration

school jointly with Perkins Institution;
The conduct of a dramatics training project for blind

children;
The development of educational Talking Book records for

blind children;
Cooperation in the development of measuring scales of

intelligence and educational achievement tests;
The publication of a professional magazine and books for

teachers of blind children;
Higher education scholarship for promising young blind

students.

In other areas the Foundation has:

Worked to provide broader opportunities for the em-
ployment of the blind through special studies of occupa-
tions and professions in which they may excel;

Obtained cooperation of the Federal Government in
providing employment to thousands without sight, man-
ufacturing commodities for the government, in which
they have earned millions of dollars in wages;

Cooperated with agencies for the blind in obtaining a
federal-state relief system for the blind which extends
monetary assistance to scores of thousands of needy
blind people;

Aided in the development of improved methods of braille
printing and promoted the adoption of a uniform braille
code for the English-speaking world;

Prevailed upon the Federal Government to inaugurate a
system of library service for the blind, and developed the
Talking Book for those who because of age or other
reasons cannot read braille;

195

AS I SAW IT

Developed special appliances to minimize the handicap
of blindness, such as an improved braille typewriter, high
quality Talking Book machines, low cost recording ma-
chines, scales for weighing, a thermometer which can be
read by touch, measuring devices which open various
fields of employment for the blind, etc.;

Obtained the cooperation of the railroads and buses, en-
abling blind people to travel with a guide upon the pay-
ment of only one fare;

Provided special services to the deaf-blind and assisted
local agencies for the blind and the deaf to give compre-
hensive care to this doubly-handicapped group;

Maintained summer school courses and institutes for in-
service training for workers with the adult blind;

Conducted a demonstration summer vacation home for
blind women where hundreds of sightless women find
recreation and diversion;

Given thousands of radios to blind men and women who
could not afford to buy them;

Made available to the blind, at cost or less, special watches,
braille typewriters, standard typewriters, and other spe-
cial equipment;

Conducted during and since World War II a special
consultation service to blinded service men and veterans,
giving each one a braille watch and other special equip-
ment not then available from the government;

Arranged for national and international conferences with
special reference to the blind, such as a world conference
on work for the blind, a national conference on the pre-
school blind child, conferences of workshop managers,
etc.;

196

THE AMERICAN FOUNDATION

Conducted a special reference and lending library of ink-
print books on subjects of interest to workers for the
blind.

When quoting these excerpts from the twenty-five
year report the author is conscious of a deep sense of
gratitude to the many friends of the Foundation, espe-
cially those whose generosity and active service as officers
and board members helped the struggling young agency
over the first difficult years. There were many of these
friends, and they cannot all be listed. A special tribute,
however, should be paid to Miss Prudence Sherwin of
Cleveland, who served as vice-president for many years,
to Herbert H. White, who as treasurer guided the Foun-
dation finances in the early years, and to William Ziegler,
Jr. who even before his assumption of the presidency of
the Foundation had proved himself a loyal friend. Their
interest and willingness to serve should be an inspiration
to the present members of the Board who now work
with a new executive director. The new executive is
Mr. M. Robert Barnett, a young and energetic man who
had made a name for himself as head of the Florida Coun-
cil for the Blind and who succeeded the author in 1949.

As a finish, it is above all pertinent to say that as one
looks back over the years' effort to build the organiza-
tion, one wonders how the Foundation could have at-
tained its present stature without the imagination and
drive supplied by Major M. C. Migel and without the
active backing of Helen Keller who put behind it all of
the magic of her name.

197

INDEX

INDEX

Allen, Edward E., 7, 8, 12, 59,
139, 140, 190, 191.

American Association of In-
structors of the Blind, 5, 6, 7,
8, 17, 37, 42, 45, 47, 51, 52,
5$, 56, 128, 135, 190, 191.

American Association of Work-
ers for the Blind, 11, 22, 24,
26, 28, 34, 37, 44, 47, 51, 52,
56, 121, 181, 185, 190, 191.

American Bible Society, 89,
139.

American Blind People's Higher
Education and General Im-
provement Association, 21,
22, 121.

American braille, 3, 7, 9-34, 47,
48, 54, 61, 69, 114, 121.

American Braille Press, 1 19.

American Federation of Radio
Actors, 102.

American Foundation for
Overseas Blind, 119.

American Foundation for the
Blind, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 58,
62, 63, 64, 65, 71, 72, 73, 74,
86, 87, 91, 92, 93, 94, 95, 96,
97, 100, 102, 103, 104, 105,
106, 120, 122, 123, 130, 146,
158, 163, 168, 173, 179, 185,
187-197.

American Library Association,

7i, 72-
American Printing House for
the Blind, 7, 9, 16, 17, 18, 19,
46, 48, 50, 52, 53, 54, 59, 60,

63, 65, 69, 74, 75, 77, 94, 95,

105, 106, 118, 126, 130, 135-

139.
Anagnos, Michael, 7.
Atkinson, J. Robert, 64, 72, 73,

92.
Audograph, 93.
Authors' League, 94.
Bankhead, William B., 161, 162.
Barbour, William, 101.
Barnett, M. Robert, 197.
Berinstein, Benjamin, 11.
Birchard, Florence, 150.
Bledsoe, John F., 11, 123.
Bledsoe, Warren, 123.
Block, Paul, 112, 113.
Book Publishers' Association,

94, 95-

Bordley, James, 189.

Braille, Louis, 4, 5, 6, 7, 10, 35.

Braille, 2-56.

Braille Book Review, 1 19-120.

Braille Institute of America, 72,
73* 92.

Bramlette, Edgar E., 63.

Brewster, John, 100.

British and Foreign Blind As-
sociation, 35.

British Braille, 25, 27, 33, 34,

35* 36, 39> 4°> 4Ji 43> 44* 51-
British Braille Committee, 22,

24, 35, 55-
Bryan, Frank C, 59, 63.
Burritt, Olin H., 2, 11, 41, 46,

191, 192.

20I

AS I SAW IT

California School for the Blind,

Hi-
California State Library, 69.
Campbell, Charles F. F., 12, 15,

16, 29, 30, 121-123, 147, 149,

150, 189, 191.
Campbell, Sir Francis, 12, 55,

139.
Canes, 170-172.
Carnegie Corporation, 63, 86,

87.
Chicago Public Library, 69, 70.
Chicago Public Schools, 12, 21,

128, 129.
Christian Record, 120.
Cincinnati Library Society for

the Blind, 70.
Cleveland Public Library, 69.
Clunk, Joseph F., 150.
Commission on Uniform Type

for the Blind, 38, 40, 42, 43,

45, 46, 47-

Corbett, William, 87.

Cowan, Andrew, 17, 20.

Craigmillar School for the
Blind, Edinburgh, 38.

Crail, Joe, 73.

Crocker Wheeler Company,
148.

Curtis, John B., 12, 21, 24, 129,
130.

Debetaz, William, 174.

Dennison Manufacturing Com-
pany, 147.

Dibble General Hospital, 171.

Dunn, Matthew, 162.

Dyer, Frank L., 93, 94. ■

Ebeling, Willi H., 173.

Edison, Thomas A., 86.

Education of the blind, 125-

143.
Eustis, Dorothy Harrison, 172-

174-

"Evergreen", 189.
Fish, Hamilton, 160, 162.
Florida Council for the Blind,

197.
Ford, Henry, 148.
Ford, John, 8.
Ford Motor Company, 148.
Fortunate Fields, 172, 174.
Fowler, Elwyn H., 24, 28, 37.
Fowler, Mary, 28, 31, 32, 37,

189.
Frank, Morris, 173.
Fraser, Sir Ian, 106.
Free Library of Philadelphia,

69.
Gardner's Trust for the Blind,

35, 55-
Gockel, Joseph, 1 11- 112.
Goldthwaite, Lucy A., 119,

120, 123.
Griffis, Enid, 123.
Guide dogs, 172-175.
Hall, Frank H., 8, 9, 11, 13,

128, 129.
Hall braillewriter, 64.
Haiiy, Valentin, 59.
Hayes, Charles B., 123, 192.
Higher education, 140-143.
Holmes, Charles W., 22, 24, 30,

150, 152.
Holmes, Walter G., 32, 36, 112-

117.
Holt, Winifred, 11.
The Home Teacher, 118.
Hoover, President, 73.
Hoover, Richard E., 170, 171.
Hopkins, Harry, 97.
Howard, L. Pearl, 27, 28, 31,

32, 37-
Howe, Samuel Gridley, 126,

127, 139.
Howe Memorial Press, 30, 63,

69.

202

INDEX

Howe Publishing Society for

the Blind, 71.
Humphrey, Elliott S., 174.
Hun, Mary, 97.
Huntoon, Benjamin B., 17, 19,

20, 55, 5<5, 59, 137-
Ierardi, Francis B., 11 7- 118.
Illinois School for the Blind, 8,

9, 11, 128, 129.
Indiana School for the Blind,

18.
International Committee on

Braille Mathematical Nota-
tion, 130.
International Conference on

the Blind, 24, 36, 37.
International Conference on

Work for the Blind, Vienna,

49.
Iowa State School for the

Blind, 27.
Irwin, Robert B., 2, 58, 68, 69,

84, no, 126, 146, 168, 178,

188, 189.
Jones, George W., 11.
Junior Women's Clubs of New

Jersey, 96.
Keller, Helen, 12, 13, 15, 73, 97,

161, 169, 180, 193, 197.
Kentucky School for the Blind,

135, 137-
Keppel, Frederick Paul, 63, 87.
Kleber, Chester C, 98, 164, 165.
Kleber, Jackson O., 87, 104.
Kleidograph, 9, 10.
Klein, Johann Wilhelm, 172.
Kneass, Napoleon, in.
Kneass's magazines, in,
Knight, John, 100.
LaFollette, Robert M., Jr., 77.
Latimer, H. Randolph, 27, 37,

38, 40, 41, 46, 190, 192.

LeFevre, Robert, 163, 164.
Levy, Carrie B., 131.
Levy, William Hanks, 170.
Library of Congress, 31, 52, 53,

54, 69, 70, 73, 77, 78, 79, 80,

89, 92, 93, 97, 98, 99, 103, 105,

119, 120, 138, 139.
Liechty, Howard M., 117, 123.
Linetype, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, 25, 47,

in.
Lu Vera, 112.
McGill, Wallace, 121.
McKay, Evelyn C, 123.
Macy, Anne Sullivan, 193.
Mann, Thomas, 103.
Maryland School for the Blind,

11, 27, 171.
Massachusetts Association for

Promoting the Interests of

the Blind, 121.
Massachusetts Commission for

the Blind, 150.
Massachusetts Division of the

Blind, 117.
Matilda Ziegler Magazine for

the Blind, 32, 61, 112-117,

123.
Maugham, W. Somerset, 103.
The Mentor, 121.
Meyer, H. H. B., 92.
Michigan Employment Insti-
tution for the Blind, 21.
Migel, M. C, 31, 32, 36, 41,

97, i^3, 191-194, 197-
Migel Medal for Outstanding

Service to the Blind, 130,

148.
Missouri School for the Blind,

4, 7-
Modified braille, 5-7.
Molineaux, Edwards S., 165,

166.

203

AS I SAW IT

Montgomery Ward and Com-
pany, 151.

Moon type, 25, no.

Morford, Eben P., 152.

Muck, Lee N., 24.

Nate, Joseph C, 192.

National Braille Press, n 7- 118.

National Cash Register Com-
pany, 148.

National Federation of the
Blind, 185.

National Industries for the
Blind, 98, 163, 164.

National Institute for the Blind,
London, 35, 38, 45, 143.

National Uniform Type Com-
mittee, 43.

New York Association for the
Blind, 11.

New York Board of Educa-
tion, 12, 13, 16.

New York Institute for the
Education of the Blind, 59,
60, 191.

New York Institution for the
Blind, 4, 136.

New York Point, 3-34, 47, 48,
no, in, 112, 114.

New York Public Library, 62,
69, 70, 119.

New York Public Schools, 10.

New York State Library, 69,
70.

New York State School for the
Blind, 28, 127.

North Carolina School for the
Blind, 55.

O'Day, Caroline, 158, 160, 161,
162, 163.

Our Special, 118.

Outlook for the Blind, 12, 15,
92, 93, 121-123, 189, 192.

Overbrook, 60, 61, 189, see also,

Pennsylvania Institution for
the Instruction of the Blind.

Pain, Miss D. A., 51.

Palmer, A. Emerson, 12, 13.

Pearson, Sir Arthur, 43, 47.

Peebles, Admiral, 163.

Pennsylvania Association for
the Blind, 190.

Pennsylvania Institution for
the Instruction of the Blind,
6, 12, 28, 69, 136, 139, see also
Overbrook.

Periodicals for the Blind, 109-

123.
Perkins Institution for the

Blind, 5, 6, 7, 12, 22, 30, 59,

70, 117, 121, 127, 136, 139,

152, 189, 190, 195.
Perry, Newell, 141.
Physical education, 139-140.
Pollak, Simon, 4.
Potts, P. C, 123.
Pratt, Ruth, 72, 73.
Pratt-Smoot Act, 68, 72-78.
Printing for the blind, 7-9, 10,

The Problem, 121.

Public school classes, 126-134.

Radio Corporation of America,

86, 88, 92, 93, 149.
Ray, John E., 55.
Rayburn, Sam, 161, 162.
Readaphone, 92, 93.
Reader's Digest, 11 8- 119.
Revised braille, 21, 35, 42, 44,

45, 47-
Rider, Gertrude T., 31, 32.
Rodenberg, Louis W., 51.
Roosevelt, Eleanor, 103.
Roosevelt, President, 97.
Royal Normal College for the

Blind, 7, 12, 139.
Russell, Miss H. C, 38.

204

INDEX

St. Dunstan's for Men and

Women Blinded in War

Service, 43, 106.
Scourby, Alexander, 100.
The Seeing Eye, Inc., 173-175.
Sherwin, Prudence, 197.
Shotwell, Ambrose, 21, 24.
Sibley, John T., 7.
Smith, Joel W., 5, 6, 7, 121.
Smoot, Reed, 72, 73, 77.
Social Security Act, 177-186.
Society for Providing Evan-
gelical Religious Literature

for the Blind, 139.
Society for the Relief of the

Destitute Blind, 31.
Stainsby, Henry, 40.
Standard Dot, 34, 37-40.
Standard English braille, 52.
Stone, W. M., 38, 39, 40.
Struthers, Jan, 102.
Tactile Print Investigating

Commission, 21, 24.
Talking Book, 74-78, 81, 84-

107, no, 118, 126, 131, 138,

195.
Thompson, Lincoln, 87.
Treaty of London, 51, 52, 53.
Uniform Type Committee, 11,

24, 25, 30, 31, 32, 36, 37, 41,

130, 192.

Universal Braille Press, 64, 72.
Upson Nut Company, 149.
Valley Forge General Hospi-
tal, 170, 171.
Van Cleve, Edward M., 191.
V.A. Hospital, Hines, Illinois,

171. .
Virginia School for the Blind,

136.
Vocations for the Blind, 145-

166.
Wagner, Robert F., 158, 180.
Wagner-O'Day Act, 158-164.
Wait, William B., 4, 5, 6, 9, 10,

11, 12, $6, 59.
Wallace, L. W., 189, 190, 191.
The Weekly News, 117.
The Weekly Review, in.
White, Herbert H., 197.
Wilson, George, 18.
Wisconsin School for the

Blind, 76.
Woollcott, Alexander, 103.
Works Progress Administra-
tion, 97, 98.
Workshops for the Blind, 151-

166.
World Conference on Work

for the Blind, 50.
Ziegler, E. Matilda, 113, 115.
Ziegler, William, Jr., 192, 197.

205

c. 1

HV1593

IfcH Irwin, Robert Benjamin.

AS I SAW IT. (1955)

Date Due

a \

Irvrin, Robert Benjamin

AUTHOR

AS I SAW IT.

TWZJ

TITLE

DATE DUE

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BORROWERS NAME